Woman was seven times over legal alcohol limit

A 47-year-old Co Clare woman lost her life last Christmas Eve after a night drinking on the couch in front of the TV with her boyfriend.

At the Clare coroner’s court yesterday, county coroner Isobel O’Dea returned a verdict of death by misadventure relating to Kilrush woman Noreen O’Toole.

Ms O’Toole worked as a chef in a Kilrush pub and, in his deposition, her boyfriend, Paul Olson, said that the two drank a bottle of gin straight and two bottles of wine after Ms O’Toole came home from work at 9.30pm on Dec 23 last.