A man whose body was found in the sea north of Dublin earlier this year had left notes for his family and the Dublin city coroner, an inquest into his death heard yesterday.
A couple out walking spotted the body shortly after they found keys and a Walkman radio. They hailed a passing Garda patrol car.
A garda, who was given the keys, told Dublin Coroner's Court that gardai opened the door to a car parked nearby. There was a notebook and diary in the vehicle which revealed the man's identity.
The garda said he checked the man for a pulse but could find none. He called an ambulance and the man was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital.
The man's wife, who formally identified his body, told the inquest she had spoken to her husband earlier in the afternoon and he appeared to be normal.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said he did not intend going into the details of the notes left by the deceased. However, he said the letter to the man's family was "in many ways a very loving letter" and concerned a number of private matters. He said a clear intention was expressed by the man to take his own life in the note addressed to the coroner.
An autopsy report detected alcohol in the man's body and identified the cause of death as drowning, Dr Farrell said. He returned a verdict of death by suicide and extended his sympathy to the family.
It is the policy of The Irish Times to withhold identification in the reporting of certain inquests.