Great-grandfather killed while cycling home from funeral had to be identified using DNA, inquest hears
Seán McCárthaigh
The scale of the injuries to a great-grandfather who was killed while cycling home from a funeral in north Dublin earlier this year was so great that his body had to be formally identified by matching DNA samples, an inquest has heard.
Johnny Monks (76), a married father of two from Lambeecher, Balbriggan, Co Dublin was fatally struck by a truck on the R132 at Dublin Street, Balbriggan at around 12.40pm on March 16th, 2026.
Monks was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision.
He had been cycling home from a funeral service at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Balbriggan at the time of the incident.
Following the fatal collision a male in his 30s, who was arrested at the scene, was subsequently released pending analysis of a sample by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety.
At the opening of an inquest into his death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, coroner Cróna Gallagher said the identity of the deceased has been established via DNA samples due to the nature of the incident.
Dr Gallagher told a brief hearing that Monks’ son, John, had provided a mouth swab of his DNA to gardaí as part of the process to establish that the deceased was his biological father.
The inquest heard gardaí had also taken a DNA sample from the deceased’s thigh muscle following the completion of a postmortem.
Dr Gallagher said the results of an analysis conducted by Forensic Science Ireland had shown “very strong support” to confirm Monks’ identity.
She also revealed that the results of the postmortem showed that he had died as a result of “multiple traumatic injuries as a consequence of a motor vehicle incident".
Superintendent Ann Marie Lardner of Balbriggan Garda Station applied for a six-month adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings in relation to Monks’ death are under consideration.
Supt Lardner informed the coroner that the file on the Garda investigation in the case was at an advanced stage.
However, she explained that gardaí were still awaiting the findings of a forensic collision investigation into the fatal incident before the file would be forwarded to the DPP for direction.
Offering her condolences to relatives of Monks who attended the brief hearing, Dr Gallagher granted the application for an adjournment and listed the case for further mention on February 25th, 2027.
