Four years on, family seeks answers over death of young rally driver Eoin McCarthy
RIP: Eoin McCarthy and his co-driver Daniel O’Brien (Honda Civic) pictured on the Killarney Forest Rally in 2022. Picture: Martin Walsh.
On the third Sunday of February 2022, Eoin McCarthy, 22, lost his life following an accident during the fourth stage of the Killarney Forest Rally that was based in Castleisland.
Storm Eunice had battered the southwest coast that weekend. Its effects have torn apart the lives of the McCarthy family from Kildee near Dunmanway, who still await answers about what exactly happened.
The McCarthys are a well-known and popular rally family. Eoin was competing in his first gravel rally having made his debut in the sport in the Junior category of the Cork '20' International Rally the previous September, co-driven by his brother Conor.
Both sons were following in the footsteps of their father Liam - a winner of the West Cork Rally and the Fastnet Rally.
In Castleisland, Daniel O'Brien from Dripsey was Eoin's co-driver - it was Daniel's first rally.
Next August, from 11th to 13th, three days have been set aside for Eoin's inquest. Like any family hit by tragedy, Liam, his wife Nora and Eoin's siblings Conor and Rachel are trying to rebuild their lives, but that's made tougher as four years later, so many questions they have remain unanswered. The wait has magnified their grief.
That Sunday morning in Castleisland, weather conditions were among the worst I have ever experienced at any rally. Some competitors wondered if the rally would go ahead. Storm Eunice had raged since the Friday, turning some streams into rivers.
Eoin and Daniel managed to get their Honda Civic to the end of the first loop of three stages and back to the service park in Castleisland. At the service park, they chatted with Liam and Conor with Eoin relaying to them that the ruts and potholes were challenging for his Honda — gravel rallying is totally different to driving on tarmac surfaces.
All the usual checks ensured everything was ok for the repeat loop, the car was refuelled and Eoin and Daniel made their way out to SS4 - Mount Eagle, while Conor made his way back home. Liam's parting words to the lads were simple — "Mind yourselves, just bring it home."
Competing cars started at one-minute intervals, with Eoin and Daniel off at 2.04pm. Within a few minutes, their red Honda Civic had slid off on an unprotected bridge, albeit at slow speed, ending up on its roof in what had become a swollen river of some four foot depth. Co-driver Daniel pressed the SOS button in the car at 2.07pm which alerted those involved in monitoring the tracking system back in the control room at rally headquarters in Castleisland.
A co-driver in one of the cars that arrived at the scene some four minutes after the accident, ran back along the stage for approximately a quarter of a mile in order to get phone coverage to call the stage commander Declan O'Leary to make him aware of the severity of the accident.
Back at the service park Liam's phone rang, it was Conor, who told him that Eoin had been involved in a serious accident. The rally community is close knit, people know people and news travels fast. Conor had been informed of the situation by fellow West Cork man, Sean Hayes, who was marshalling at the rally near the accident location.
The McCarthys have yet to be told how long it took from the time Daniel O'Brien pressed the SOS button in the car to when the emergency services were released to go to the scene of the accident.
On the day, Liam asked rally preparation expert, Ballyvourney's Colm Grant, who was in the service park, to make enquiries at rally headquarters about the accident. Grant confirmed there had been an accident but he was told that it involved another person with the same name and that it wasn't Liam's son. But Liam remained worried. He received another call from Conor asking had he gone to the accident scene.
Moving up through the hierarchy, Colm Grant was eventually told that, yes, it was Eoin McCarthy - Liam's son. One of the McCarthy's questions — why did that process take so long as the tracking system would have provided that information.
Liam was then told that Eoin was in an ambulance on its way to Mountcollins where the Air Ambulance was to transfer Eoin to Cork University Hospital. Liam arrived at the GAA pitch in Mountcollins on the Limerick/Kerry borders and within 15 minutes, three ambulances had arrived.
Then, Liam was shocked to hear one of the drivers tell him that they were in the wrong place, "We have to go to Brosna GAA field." A 5.5km journey or six- minute drive by car. Liam followed the three ambulances. They arrived in Brosna - waited for five minutes and were told they were still in the wrong place. Eventually, after some 50 minutes, they connected with the air ambulance - in a farmer's field not far from the scene of the tragedy.
As Eoin was being taken in a stretcher to the helicopter, Dr. Fiona Kelly, the chief medical officer (CMO) for the rally, informed Liam that Eoin had been stabilised. During the transfer Liam saw Eoin. "His hand was warm, but he wasn't responding."
Meanwhile, Nora, Conor and Rachel had made their way to the Cork University Hospital. At 4.45pm the air ambulance landed at the Cork University Hospital - two hours and 48 minutes later - prompting another unanswered and very obvious question. At 9.52pm Eoin was pronounced dead.
Nobody from Motorsport Ireland had enquired or journeyed to Cork University Hospital that afternoon to ask the McCarthys about Eoin.
Meanwhile, Daniel O'Brien had been transferred to Tralee General Hospital. He was there on his own, without his phone. Again, nobody from Motorsport Ireland made contact with him or his family during that afternoon.
Eoin's removal from O'Sullivan's funeral home in Clonakilty was flanked by guards of honour from the rallying fraternity along with his work colleagues at Wesco, Kilmeen and Kilbree GAA and Dunmanway RFC - sporting organisations where Eoin was hugely popular. He simply loved sport.
Following his requiem mass and burial in Rossmore, people gathered in Tots Pub in Ballygurteen, a favourite spot of Eoin's where he had celebrated his father's inaugural West Cork Rally victory in 2009.
As people reminisced about a life cruelly cut short, Aiden Harper, the president of Motorsport Ireland spoke to Liam, who was accompanied by his long-time co-driver and great friend, Kieran Murphy. "We went into to the snug," Liam recalls, "it was private and quieter, Aiden sympathised with us and said anything you want from me, I am at the other end of the phone - he gave Kieran his number."
Months later, Kieran made some calls to Harper and left some messages but didn't get a response. Liam said, "Kieran then contacted Paul Browne of the Munster Car Club, whom he knew and who knew Aiden Harper. Eventually, Paul made contact and said that Aiden Harper would meet us, but the meeting never happened."
Since the tragedy, Aiden Harper has been present at the West Cork Rally, including as safety delegate last March. He was in Clonakilty a few times, but hasn't made contact with the McCarthy family. Liam says, "It would have been a very easy resolution to everything if he did, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions now."
Nora, too, is shocked and saddened by Motorsport Ireland's lack of communication and engagement. "That they thought so little of us and the situation, it's as if they couldn't be bothered talking to us. We wouldn't have gone any further, we would have accepted what they said really."
When asked why he hadn't answer Kieran Murphy's calls, Motorsport Ireland president Aiden Harper said: "I don't believe, and this is honestly speaking, that I missed any calls from that man (Kieran Murphy), because if I did, I would have certainly called back.
"I did say I would do anything, as I always do in these circumstances, anything that we could do, please, we'll be in contact."
Of the lack of a meeting with the family, he added, "That meeting was to happen, it just didn't happen. I actually can't think back now why, because it's a couple of years ago, but there was no unreasonable reason why it didn't happen. It just didn't materialise. And again, I'd have no bother meeting the family. I've done it with other families. I'd have no issue whatsoever. But I genuinely do not understand why the meeting didn't happen. And that's being genuine."
The McCarthy's lives are frozen in time. As Liam tried to make sense of it all, he visited the accident scene. "I was shocked really, at how dangerous the location was especially with no protection on the left hand side of the concrete bridge (where the car slid off). There was a railing on the right side that was bent over at 45 degrees."
Given his rallying experience, Liam McCarthy couldn't believe that so many senior officials had passed the location and not seen potential dangers, especially with a drop of around six feet and then the water. Apparently, a marshal had expressed concerns prior to the start of the rally that were to have been relayed to a senior official. In addition, the lack of 087 mobile phone coverage was also highlighted.
Liam was even more astounded by the report on the fatality by a Motorsport Ireland official. "I was shocked when I read it. Its third page said - 'This was an unfortunate accident that happened despite extensive safety planning for this event.' The report added, 'I do not believe that there are any extra precautions that could have been taken that may have prevented the accident happening.'"
In early summer of 2022, Liam had a conversation with Drimoleague native and former rally driver Frank O'Mahony. O'Mahony, a former chairperson of the Rallies Committee (now Rallies Commission) and a former head of the MI Safety Committee for rallying, is well-versed in procedural matters. He asked Liam McCarthy if the family had received the insurance compensation that was due to them in the circumstances. The McCarthys had no knowledge of this, nor had received any information from Motorsport Ireland.
Through their legal representatives, Liam and Nora contacted Motorsport Ireland's insurers with a written request to furnish the details of the competitor Personal Accident Policy, noting that "not one person or member of your client's federation (Motorsport Ireland) made any effort or attempt to notify our clients of the existence of this policy or to help them make an application under the policy."
The McCarthys were disappointed with the response. Nora said, "It was a cold letter. It was if it was written to Eoin and that he would have known about the insurance. I thought it (the letter) was very insensitive."
Nothing will ever bring Eoin McCarthy back or lessen his loss to his family and friends. Few are aware what they have endured over the last four years and four months in trying to get answers, something they have kept that private until recently.
It's nothing to do with compensation, it never was. Perhaps they will get answers to all their questions at the inquest next August. They deserve that at the very least.
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