Sub-aqua club divers criticise gardaí after body recovered

SUB-AQUA club divers who yesterday recovered the body of a missing Leitrim man from the River Shannon have criticised gardaí for their management of the rescue operation - and they have called for a national debate on the relationship between gardaí and sub-aqua club divers.

Members of Roscommon and Lough Ree and Mullingar, as well as one diver each from Ennis and Manorhamilton sub-aqua clubs, found the body of Matthew Armstrong, aged 20, yesterday. Mr Armstrong died after being out on the Shannon on a disco boat in the early hours of Sunday morning.

But yesterday Thomas McGlynn, chairman of Lough Ree Sub-Aqua Club, said they “were made little of” by gardaí in charge of the operation to rescue Mr Armstrong.

Mr McGlynn said: “Gardaí had only four or five divers in the water, whereas we had between 15 and 17. We are an asset in this situation. I understand that the gardaí need to take control of an operation, but we have a lot of experience and we should be treated with respect. I believe it is time for a national discussion on the relationship between voluntary divers and the various statutory bodies.”

Gardaí declined to comment.

Mr Armstrong’s death has cast a pall of gloom over the Carrick-on-Shannon area, where he was an extremely popular figure.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old Kilkenny man who went to spend the festive season on a dream holiday will instead be buried this Christmas after a drowning tragedy in Australia.

Billy Gaule, a lorry driver and farmer, left home in Crawn, Kilmacow, two weeks ago for a six-week break ‘down under’.

However, the trip turned into a nightmare for the group of eight friends he was with when Mr Gaule drowned in a swimming pool at the apartment complex in the northeast city of Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon local time.

Police were investigating the circumstances in which he was found floating in the pool, having reportedly gone for a swim, but it appears to have been a tragic accident. No details of the investigation were available from local police last night.

Mr Gaule turned 28 last month and the trip to Australia on December 2 was a belated birthday gift to himself.

The group, including friends who travelled with him from Kilkenny, had planned to spend Christmas there and return home on January 15.

But last night, his distraught parents, Tommy and Frances, his older brother, Larry, and younger brother, Pat, were trying to make arrangements to have his body flown home.

“We’re terribly upset,” his mother, Frances said yesterday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is offering consular assistance to the bereaved family and arrangements are being made between undertakers here and in Gold Coast for Mr Gaule’s remains to be brought back to Ireland.

Local parish priest Father Brian Flynn was with the family yesterday, as were neighbours and friends.