Today's other stories in brief
Woman may have survived, inquest told
A coroner said yesterday that he believed an elderly woman who was injured in a fall might have survived had she been admitted to the local hospital in Co Mayo.
After hearing the evidence at an inquest in Castlebar into the death of Katherine (Katie) Corduff (84), Rossport, Ballina, the coroner for south Mayo, John O’Dwyer, returned a verdict of misadventure.
Mr O’Dwyer said it was clear to him that if Ms Corduff had been admitted to hospital rather than being given pain relief at home, she might have survived.
The deceased’s home help, Imy Blanksma, said the deceased had told her she had been blown over by a strong wind when she opened her door to check on her cat.
Ms Blanksma said she tried to get the deceased into Belmullet District Hospital but could not do so because it was full.
Both Ms Blanksma and Dr Fadel Bennani, consultant pathologist at Mayo General Hospital, agreed that if the patient had got into hospital she might have been saved.
Medical evidence was given to the inquest that the cause of death was bleeding into the space around the right lung.
EPA prosecutes council over water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is prosecuting Clare County Council over allowing water untreated for the bug cryptosporidium into the Ennis water system over a five-month period last year.
In a court summons lodged with the council, the EPA is accusing the council of breaching an EPA directive which required that the council cease the practice of allowing water to bypass the council’s new temporary treatment plant for cryptosporidium from
May 1st to October 21st last year. The case is due to be heard at Ennis District Court on June 25th next.
Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) said: “While regrettable, the council had no option but to bypass the treatment plant as Ennis would have run out of water if the council had adhered to the EPA directive and that would have created far greater health problems for the people of Ennis.”