SKELETAL HUMAN REMAINS have been discovered near the site of a new marina on the Ulster Canal greenway near Clones in Co Monaghan.  

The remains were found by a member of the public and Gardaí said they were alerted to the discovery yesterday evening. 

“Gardaí attended the scene and located a human skull on the embankment,” a spokesperson said, adding that investigations are ongoing.

The remains are to be sent to a forensic anthropologist for examination. 

The man who came across the remains, Seány Mc Cleary, told The Journal he had seen the crown of the skull peeking out of the grass along the side of the canal. 

He said he had taken his children to go kayaking at the new marina, which is part of a recently completed €20 million project to restore the stretch of canal between Clonfad and Clones.

The skull found by the canal in Clones Seany Mc Cleary Seany Mc Cleary

“My wee girl just happened to walk off the path onto this little embankment and I spotted it straight away,” Mc Cleary said, adding that he has a background in archeology. 

“It was half in, half out of the ground,” he said.

He contacted the gardaí and waited for them to arrive. When they did, he explained that it was almost certainly human, judging by the size and shape of the skull. 

He said it would be unusual for a single skull to be found in an area and that the discovery could lead to a full scale excavation, and possibly the discovery of more remains.

“It could open a whole can of worms,” he said. “Like, there’s a man’s head sticking out of the bank, you know.”

“Hopefully it doesn’t close down the marina and the kayaking.”