Killarney Forest Rally inquest hears 999 services should have been deployed after 15 seconds
Dermot Healy, the clerk of the course of the Killarney Forest Rally in 2022, gave evidence at the Coroner's Court in Cork today, Thursday. Picture: Martin Walsh
The clerk of the Killarney Forest Rally course where Dunmanway competitor Eoin McCarthy (22) died in an accident in February 2022, said emergency services should, following a pause of 15 seconds, have been deployed upon receipt of an SOS.
Dermot Healy also told the inquest in Cork into Mr McCarthy's death that the deployment of the emergency services was the collective responsibility of the tracking officer and the radio controller.
The car in which Mr McCarthy was travelling with co-driver Daniel O'Brien went off the track at an unrailed bridge on the fourth (Mount Eagle) stage of the rally and into the water.
Mr Healy said he was aware that tracking officer, Ita Doonan, having received three SOS alarms and having made alerts each time, on a third occasion elevated her voice to tell radio controller Anthony O'Connor to deploy the services.
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By then, it had emerged that stage commander Declan O'Leary was leading the medical crews to the accident location.
Mr Healy said the tracking was a separate entity within the rally and that the ELSO [emergency services liaison officer] was responsible for dealing with the emergency services and medical plans.
In relation to the weather conditions, Mr Healy said that it was his opinion that it hadn't deteriorated.
Mr Healy was critical of the fact that it had taken 4.5 years for the inquest to take place and that it should have been within a six-month timeframe.
He also highlighted the lack of support to many of the people involved and appealed to the media present to publicise that people still affected by the tragedy to seek help.
Later, Bébhinn Murphy, BL for Motorsport Ireland, advised the media that Motorsport Ireland are channelling the resource through Abate Counselling.
Providing medical evidence, Dr Fiona Kelly, chief medical officer for the rally, said the delay in transferring Eoin McCarthy to Cork University Hospital would not have affected the outcome due to the prolonged time he was submerged in the water.
She added that he had lapsed into an unconscious state, his pupils were fixed and there was no neurological response compatible with life and the prognosis was poor. Poignantly, she recalled that Eoin's father Liam had asked her if he could say goodbye to Eoin before he was airlifted to Cork University Hospital.
However, evidence was also provided by paramedic Paraic Glynn that Mr McCarthy's vitals were stable and he was breathing on his own at the time of transfer. He was later pronounced dead at Cork University Hospital.
Motorsport Ireland vice president John Naylor, who is also a member of the Serious Incident Advisory Group (SIAG), told the court he was appointed by Aiden Harper, president of MI, to compile a report on the tragedy.
When questioned by legal counsel for the McCarthy family, Mr Naylor said that he wasn't aware that his name was on the safety plan for the event. Mr Naylor felt that the location (of the accident) wasn't a location where a car would leave the road.
He had no recollection of meeting Mark Dolphin (a marshal at the junction after the scene of the accident) and asking him to remove his vehicle to allow for the passage of an ambulance.
He was also unaware of a video taken by a senior Motorsport Ireland official near a bale showing medical assistance being rendered to Eoin McCarthy.
In post-rally discussions and before he left Castleisland on the evening of the tragedy, Mr Naylor instructed members of the Killarney club to liaise with the family.
The inquest is set to end on Friday.
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