MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Jim O’Callaghan has voiced concerns about the length of time it took gardaí to locate the body of Tina Satchwell, who was murdered by her husband Richard Satchwell and buried underneath the stairs in their Cork home. 

Richard Satchwell was last week found guilty of the murder of his wife Tina née Dingivan. He was sentenced to life in prison. 

Tina was reported missing in 2017 by her husband, but it was only six years later that her body was discovered by gardaí. 

Speaking today on RTÉ’s This Week, O’Callaghan said that he had raised the “concern” over the length of time it had taken with the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris when he had met with him last week at their quarterly meeting. 

He commended gardaí for “getting justice” in the case.

“However I did raise with the commissioner concern about the fact it had taken a considerable period of time to find her body and he said he is going to prepare a report on that,” O’Callaghan said. 

He added that there are “very devious people out there who go to very great lengths to hide their crimes”.

“That was the case with Richard Satchwell, and it is also the case with the person responsible for the murder of Mike Gaine who hasn’t yet been apprehended,” he said.

“I would have preferred had we been able to discover the body of Tina Dingivan sooner, that wasn’t done, and I’m going to get a report on that. But justice has been done in her case.”

Addressing the fact that Ireland does not have access to a cadaver dog, aside from a single dog who works for the PSNI, O’Callaghan said that they are “very specialised” and admitted that the PSNI’s dog Fern, who was brought to Satchwell’s house in 2023 and ultimately discovered Tina’s remains, “probably” should have been brought to the property in 2017 during the beginning of the investigation.

“That dog is sought by many police forces in Britain as well. We got the use of the dog here and he was of much assistance.

“It obviously would be preferable if we had a cadaver dog. They have a very limited work life, cadaver dogs, they’re only operational for a period of about three years, they have to go through a very difficult training process.

“It would be preferable if the cadaver dog available on the island had been used earlier.”

Questions were also raised regarding the two months it took gardaí to locate the remains of Kenmare man Micheal ‘Mike’ Gaine.

“I’m hoping that the person responsible for the murder of Mike Gaine will be brought to justice,” O’Callaghan said.

“And I know that the gardaí are conducting their inquiries very thoroughly. We should also point out, as was the case in the murder of Tina Dingivan, that the gardaí have a good record in this country in apprehending murderers and bringing them to justice, and I believe there will ultimately be a successful outcome in respect to finding the murderer responsible for the killing of Mike Gaine.”

Following a brief discussion on electronic tagging, O’Callaghan confirmed that he intends to roll out the measure on a limited basis by the end of the year.

The Justice Minister mentioned sex offenders, people subject to restriction of movement orders, and people on bail as potential “offenders or suspects” who the measure might apply to.