Ex-Irish Rail worker seeks damages for stress

A FORMER ticket-checker for Iarnród Éireann has brought a High Court claim for damages, for post-traumatic stress disorder, after witnessing suicide attempts where people threw themselves in front of trains.

The court yesterday heard details of a number of horrific incidents, including a death, which Patrick O’Shea witnessed in Cork.

The 49-year-old, who has left Irish Rail, is now a part-time stand-up comedian.

Mr O’Shea from 19, Killiney Heights, Knocknaheeny, Cork, featured in comedian Des Bishop’s TV series, Joy in the Hood, which encouraged new talent in local communities.

However, in June 1997 while working as a ticket-checker, a woman committed suicide by jumping in front of the Dublin train as it arrived in Kent Station in Cork. Mr O’Shea was one of the staff at the scene.

A few months later, a man was injured as he tried to walk across the train tracks at Little Island.

Mr O’Shea told Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy at the High Court in Cork yesterday that the most traumatic incident from his point of view occurred in 1998 when a woman threw herself from a bridge approaching Cobh.

Mr O’Shea was one of the staff who found the woman lying on the track seriously injured as her legs had effectively been severed.

The plaintiff testified: “The driver was taken out of the situation, I was left in the situation, it would not have taken much just to enquire about what way I was, was I alright, was there anything I needed? It might have given me an indication they actually cared.”

Tom Creed, senior counsel for the plaintiff, said that Iarnród Éireann had stress management procedures for critical incidents but the claim being made was that the procedures were not being implemented fully when these incidents occurred more than 10 years ago.

The case continues today.