Protocols at forestry rallies have become “more streamlined” following the death of a 22-year-old driver whose car veered off track and overturned into a flooded stream in Co Kerry, an inquest has heard.
Eoin McCarthy of Dunmanway, Co Cork died on February 20th, 2022 when the Honda Civic car he was driving slid into a stream during the fourth stage of the Killarney Forestry Rally at Castleisland in Co Kerry.
The rally had got under way two days after Storm Eunice, which was the subject of a status red weather warning. Witnesses have said conditions were extremely wet and windy.
There has also been a degree of confusion about who was authorised to make various decisions on the day.
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Ita Doonan, who was volunteering at the rally track control room on the day of the incident, told Cork Coroner’s Court that tracking was “quite new” at the time of the indicent. It has become more “bespoke” over the years, she said.
The fully-trained tracker said they were “always developing, always learning”.
Doonan spoke of the streamlining of protocols at events since 2022. Considerable changes have occurred over the last five years, she said.
The inquest heard that an alert came in to the control room shortly after 2pm on February 20th, 2022. The alert was from the car driven by Eoin McCarthy, who was taking part in his second ever rally.
The navigator of the car, Daniel O’Brien, survived the incident. He gave the driver CPR at the scene in a bid to save his life.
Doonan said that on occasion competitors accidentally pressed the SOS button but in this instance she erred on the side of caution and “loudly shouted for everyone to hear”. An SOS alert came in from a second car shortly afterwards.
She said she again “screamed” loudly about the need to call the emergency services.
Radio controller Anthony O’Connor was the volunteer responsible for making such calls on the day.
The inquest heard it took five minutes from the time the first SOS was received to when the emergency services were deployed.
The first SOS alert was received at 2.06pm. As per protocol, efforts were made to call the driver and co-driver of the car from which the alert was made. Phone contact could not be made.
O’Connor said “quite a number of [SOS] alerts” then came in from other cars.
O’Connor indicated that because of his own separate personal circumstances involving loss, he had chosen to “shelve to the back of his mind” all that had occurred on the day of the incident at the rally.
He said he felt desperately sorry for the McCarthy family and could empathise with them owing to his own family bereavement.
He stressed that he wasn’t being evasive when he was unable to give answers to certain questions posed by barrister Derek Ryan, who is representing the McCarthy family at the inquest.
O’Connor recalled being “frustrated” at having to make at least five 999 emergency calls on the day of the rally before the operators accepted that a helipad would be required at the crash site.
Meanwhile, a stage commander at the rally said that the event should have been cancelled because of the poor weather conditions on the day.
Declan O’Leary was volunteering at the fourth stage of the rally on the afternoon of the crash, having manned the same area that morning.
He sad there had been some general conversation about the inclement weather that morning. However, he had no authority or role in the decision-making process about whether the event should proceed.
O’Leary said given the high wind and heavy rain, the event should have been called off.
O’Leary recalled that a man took a recording of the scene of the incident and sent it to him on WhatsApp.
He was at the scene himself when the short footage clip arrived in his WhatsApp account. The clip showed the rally car “falling in to the river”. O’Leary instantly deleted the footage.
He also said that there was no mobile coverage at the fourth stage of the event when the incident happened.
“Eir, Vodafone, Three ... none of them were working.”
The McCarthy family thanked O’Leary for his assistance at the scene. The inquest will continue on Thursday.
