Family of drowned builder awarded €60k

A builder drowned after falling into the water near his home at Caherciveen five years ago, and yesterday his family were awarded €60,000 in compensation.

Daniel Looney was 29 when he drowned near his home at Marina Walk, Caherciveen, Co Kerry, on December 7, 2009.

The settlement offer in the case was approved by Mr Justice Moriarty at the High Court in Cork yesterday.

“We say there should have been a fence erected and lights where lighting was poor and it was a dangerous area,” said the plaintiff’s SC, John O’Mahony. However, he said liability would have been a real issue if the case had gone to trial, not least because the deceased had been living in the house near where the accident happened and would have been familiar with the layout.

His widow Lyndsay Looney brought the case on behalf of herself and her two young daughters. Approving the award, Mr Justice Moriarty told her: “It has been a tough old time for you. It was an awful tragedy.”

Mr O’Mahony suggested that the full value of the case would have been very high because of the loss of earnings for the family.

Mr O’Mahony said Ms Looney was adamant that the settlement offer should be accepted, as she did not want to be involved in a trial against people with whom she and her late husband were friends.