‘I was invincible’: Finbarr Fogarty on addiction, recovery and a life-changing crash

Finbarr Fogarty reflects on addiction, recovery and the adults he says failed to intervene as he and his friends spiralled

Killeagh man Finbarr Fogarty on addiction, recovery and surviving a horrific crash

Killeagh man Finbarr Fogarty made headlines in 2001 when he was involved in a horrific car crash in which two of his friends, Cian O’Mahony from Killeagh and Wayne Martin from Hollyhill, died.

He survived serious injuries, including a broken neck, and had to learn to walk again.

Like many young men, he had gone off the rails in his teens, using drugs and alcohol to find confidence and fit in. Adults in the community and in his school were aware of his drug usage, he says, but never intervened beyond a threat to expel him from school, something he now finds hard to understand.

Like many teenage boys who become involved in risky behaviour, he believed he was invincible.

"...I was invincible as a teenager... there was a few times where we were doing 100 miles an hour and we just, you know, thought, there's nothing going to happen. It's grand.

"But when it happens, that switch has not gone off in our head just yet. This idea, you know, we could die. It's just, you know, we're not going to die."

Even the crash did not break the power of his addiction – he was arrested a few months later after a local Garda found him on the street in a drunken state.

"I was arrested, and I remember the bangarda who picked me up, she looked at me and said – are you the guy who was in the accident? The guards have a very tough job."

Now, 25 years later, Finbarr lives in Australia, where he runs a successful business and volunteers to help other people in recovery.

He spoke to the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast about breaking the cycle of addiction in his family, how recovery works, and how he and his friends were let down by adults who knew they were in freefall.