Free defibrillator checks by Red Cross

The Irish Red Cross has offered to conduct free checks on community-based defibrillators across the country in the wake of a diving tragedy off Cork.

Cork City Coroner’s Court heard last week how the batteries in an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) failed just days before they were needed in an emergency off Roche’s Point last summer.

John McNally, 46, from Bruff in Co Limerick, ran out of air and drowned after volunteering to remove a heavy weight from his dive group boat’s tangled guide line.