AN INQUEST jury has called for greater penalties against companies who do not take part fully in faulty product recalls. It follows the deaths of two elderly women in Co Donegal on September 24th, 2009.
Friends and neighbours Annie Gallagher (84) and Sarah McDyer (79) were found dead at Ms Gallagher’s home in Glenties.
Ms McDyer was found at the feet of Ms Gallagher, who was slumped in an armchair still holding a teacup by its handle.
The inquest into the women’s deaths in Letterkenny yesterday found both had died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning which was produced by a domestic appliance. A verdict of death by misadventure in both cases was passed by a unanimous verdict.
The jury also made a number of recommendations, including that the Commission for Energy Regulation needed to have a greater legislative mandate to investigate incidents involving LPG appliances.
It also said the National Consumer Agency needed to have a greater role in suggesting product recalls and should also be able to audit product recalls and issue penalties to businesses that fail audits.
The recommendations come after the two-day inquest into the deaths of the two women. It heard how, after the death of French student Alexis Landry (21) in November 2008, a number of government bodies met to discuss the issue. Mr Landry was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from a cooker in a flat in Macroom, Co Cork.
The State bodies, including the National Consumer Agency, Commission for Energy Regulation and National Safety Authority, appointed independent investigators Burgoynes to investigate the death.
It recommended a recall of all similar cookers, but Ms Gallagher and Ms McDyer died 10 months into this product recall.
Solicitor for the families of the two women, Frank Dorrian, said having heard evidence from all parties, it was clear no agency was in charge of the recall process.
The inquest also heard from Neil McGroarty, the owner of the shop from which Ms Gallagher bought the faulty cooker.
He said he was contacted by Beko following the death of Mr Landry in Macroom.
He was asked to send a list of customers who purchased such cookers. He submitted a list of 96 names in March 2009, which included that of Ms Gallagher.
Mr McGroarty said he was devastated to hear of Ms Gallagher and Ms McDyer’s deaths through alleged carbon monoxide poisoning. When he contacted Beko about the forwarded list, the cooker manufacturer said it had not received any list.
Catherine Lenihan, a former assistant director of the National Consumer Association, said recall pick-up rates on faulty products were notoriously low. She said the initial pick-up rate for the recall on the faulty cookers was only between 5 per cent and 10 per cent.
Coroner Denis McCauley passed his condolences to the Gallagher and McDyer families. He said the fact remained that of the 5,375 potentially faulty cookers, there were still 1,355 unaccounted for. “We don’t know if they are in bins or on scrap-heaps or if they are in ghost estates – we simply don’t know where they are.”