Singer in mourning after mother and sister die from gas poisoning
Mrs Brigid Heffernan, a widow, and her daughter, Fiona, were found dead at their home at Kirwan Street Cottages in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin yesterday morning.
Their bodies were removed for post mortem examination and forensics experts from the Garda Technical Bureau sealed off the house while they carried out an inspection. Bord Gais and the Health and Safety Authority are also assisting with the investigation.
A preliminary investigation by Bord Gais ruled out a leak in the supply of natural gas to the property, but a spokeswoman said the theory was being examined that a build-up of carbon monoxide from a faulty heating system was to blame.
Mrs Heffernan, aged 76, and her 39-year-old daughter were discovered by a relative who called to the house at 10.30am yesterday morning. It is thought they were overcome by deadly fumes after turning up the heating on what was one of the coldest nights of the winter so far.
The tragedy hits the Heffernan family just a year after their father, Charles, passed away. Honor Heffernan was “shattered” by their deaths, friend and musical colleague Jim Doherty said last night.
She has pulled out of the Cork Jazz Festival where she was due to perform tonight with the Jim Doherty Trio but asked that the band go ahead with the concert without her.
Carbon monoxide is an invisible and odourless gas produced when fuels like natural gas, oil and coal fail to burn fully. Trace quantities are considered harmless and usually disperse with good ventilation but larger concentrations can disorientate and kill in under half an hour.
Around 40 people die in Ireland each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, about half of them accidentally, although carbon monoxide detectors, like smoke alarms, can be bought for as little as 30.
Meanwhile, a seven-month-old baby, his mother and grandparents had a lucky escape when their house was set on fire after thugs threw a firework through the front window.
Ted and Kathleen Bradley, their teenage daughter, Dayna, and her baby, Craig, of Charleton Hill, New Ross, Co Wexford, were saved by a smoke alarm which activated and woke them. The rocket-style banger broke a window and set curtains on fire, turning an entire downstairs room into an inferno.
Gardaí are investigating and have appealed for witnesses.
