State has two weeks to pay legal costs of family of Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas

Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas died after the Kilkee Coast Guard Delta rigid inflatable boat she was on capsized during a search for a missing man in 2016. 

A legal team representing the family of Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas has given the Government two weeks to pay legal costs the family must meet following the inquest into her September 2016 death.

A verdict of death by misadventure was returned at the end of her inquest last November.

The 41-year-old mother of two died after the Kilkee Coast Guard Delta rigid inflatable boat (RIB) she was on capsized during a search for a missing man on September 12, 2016. 

She was the first Irish Coast Guard volunteer to lose her life during a mission.

The inquest into Mrs Lucas’s death heard that she was conscious in the water for 17 minutes after the Kilkee Delta RIB was hit by a wave and capsized in a shallow surf zone at Lookout Bay off Kilkee, and that a second RIB owned by the Kilkee unit could have reached the area to rescue all three on board within 10 minutes.

In a letter sent to the Chief State Solicitor’s office in recent days, Connolly O’Neill solicitors outlined that there has been an “inordinate and unacceptable delay” in response from the Government to the costs submitted by the Lucas family’s legal team last April. 

Legal team notified that costs were being reviewed

In May, the legal team received notification that the submitted costs were being reviewed.

Now, Connolly O’Neill solicitors have written to request that the submitted costs are “paid in the next 14 days” which would mean by November 28.

The letter seeks confirmation to be given on November 21 that the costs will be paid.

The correspondence, seen by the Irish Examiner, also outlines that a failure to pay by November 28 could result in an application to the High Court “for declaratory relief confirming that this inquest was an Article II inquest given that Mrs Lucas was working for and in the custody of the Irish State when she died”.

Under Article II of the European Convention on Human Rights, member states have a duty to protect the right to life.

Mrs Lucas had been a member of Doolin Coast Guard for a decade and was taking part in a search for a missing man when a massive wave capsized the boat she and colleagues Jenny Carway and James Lucey were in, in Lookout Bay. 

All three were cast into the water.

The jury heard there was no official coastguard vessel at the scene off the West Clare coast until the arrival of Coast Guard R115 at 1.38pm — about 20 minutes after the mayday call was made at 1.11pm.

Mrs Lucas was taken from the water at 1.41pm.