Joseph Grogan: Inquest after millionaire Irish farmer dies the day after marrying his girlfriend

A multi-millionaire farmer and property owner died the day after marrying his girlfriend, and his family contacted police, stating there are “an awful lot of unanswered questions” about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Joseph Grogan, the owner of a sprawling 220-acre farm in Ireland, married his girlfriend Lisa Flaherty soon after being diagnosed with stage 4, high-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Mr Grogan, 75, and Ms Flaherty, 50, were married soon after the cancer diagnosis, and the farmer underwent several rounds of chemotherapy.

The treatment had been reportedly going well. However, on April 15, 2023, after a January 2023 diagnosis, Mr Grogan died at his AU$9.5 million property the day after marrying Ms Flaherty at the local registry office, an inquiry into his death has heard.

Coroner Raymond Mahon told the inquiry that Mr Grogan’s death was likely caused through the “probability of infection” as his immune system was compromised, but the fact that he was embalmed within a matter of hours, left the actual cause of death undefined.

A solicitor engaged by Mr Grogan’s family told the inquest that they felt there were “an awful lot of unanswered questions” remaining.

Barrister for Mr Grogan’s cousins, Damien Tansey, has requested that police launch a forensic investigation before the coroner delivered his findings.

Local residents had raised concerns that Mr Grogan seemed in good spirits considering his cancer treatment and that his death came as a shock, The Sun reports.

Mr Tansey said his passing was “sudden and unexpected” and that a local doctor in Screggan, Tullamore, County Offaly, stated his death was not due to cancer or organ failure.

Evidence presented in court from Mr Tansey disputed Ms Flaherty’s aspersion that Mr Grogan’s cancer has progressed to an end-of-life scenario.

“None of that evidence is true or accurate,” Mr Tansey said.

In the relatively small town, Mr Grogan and Ms Flaherty’s relationship had caused quite a stir as she had open relationships with several other men, and was also the mother to three children.

Mr Tansey stated that her claims their relationship had begun when she was just 16 had caused “anxiety” for the Grogan family and that the secrecy surrounding their wedding was a concern.

Lawyers for both sides have thrown barbs at each other with Stephen Byrne, representing Ms Flaherty, accusing Mr Tansey intimating that she had caused Mr Grogan’s death.

Mr Byrne said that the parameters for further investigation into the death had not been met and that his client had been “dragged over the coals”.

“He knew his own body, and he knew he was not going to beat this [cancer],” Mr Byrne stated.

Ms Flaherty’s sister and neighbour, a psychiatric nurse with a qualification in palliative care, had been called to assist on the day of Mr Grogan’s death, the inquiry heard.

Ms Flaherty told her that she had called an ambulance at around 10.30am but was told that palliative care in would not be available until Monday, and that Mr Grogan had said he wanted to stay at home.

Mr Tansey questioned Mr Martin Keyes – a lorry driver, part-time undertaker and family friend - at the inquiry and asked him about the urgency to remove Mr Grogan’s body on the day of his death.

“Why did you remove the body with such indecent haste to be embalmed?”, Mr Tansey said.

“There was no haste. It was about 7.30pm by the time I took Joe Grogan to Longford. He died at 3pm I think”, Mr Keyes replied.

Questions were raised about Mr Keyes being told by Ms Flaherty that he had approval to remove the body from the scene.

Mr Keyes agreed that he had not seen a death certificate and knew afterwards that there was no consent to move the body as the doctor on call was not Mr Gogan’s GP.

The inquest ruled that Mr Grogan died of natural causes linked to cancer and his treatment and was likely due to a “probability of infection” with his immune system compromised.