Coroner concerned by poor phone coverage in Louisburgh area

Emergency services unable to use phones and radio equipment during Christmas Day tragedy

Anton McNulty

THE Coroner for Mayo has expressed his concern by the poor telecommunication coverage in the Louisburgh area after hearing that emergency services were unable to use their phones or radio equipment due to poor reception.
The recent inquest into the deaths of two Louisburgh men who drowned on Christmas Day heard that a garda sergeant had to ask the parents of one of the deceased men to use their house phone because he could not get any reception.
Martin Needham (27) of Aillemore, Killadoon, Louisburgh, and Declan Davitt (26) of Curradavitt, Louisburgh, both drowned in the early hours of Christmas morning when the Ford Ranger pick-up truck was taken by a current in the Carrowinskey River as they attempted to cross it. A third man, Tom McGreal, managed to escape the vehicle and run to a house to raise the alarm.  
Sergeant CiarΡn Diffily told Coroner Patrick O’Connor that after informing the parents of Mr Davitt of the accident, he had to ask them if he could use their phone to contact colleagues. He said that mobile-phone coverage was non-existent and that even his Garda radio did not have coverage.
Mr O’Connor also heard similar evidence from Nora O’Malley. Ms O’Malley was in Richard Gibbons’s house when Tom McGreal arrived to raise the alarm about his two friends being swept away.  
She explained that she had to phone the Gardaí several times to tell them about the accident because the coverage was so bad.
“I rang 999 and the guards a few times, because the reception is bad and there was some confusion as to where the incident had happened. They thought it was in Easkey not Carrowniskey,” she said.
Mr O’Connor said the lack of telecommunications in the community was unacceptable and needed to be addressed.
“I am very concerned by the lack of telephone coverage … That is something that clearly must be put in place, particularly in that area, where there is a lot of people who are [also] entitled to the best telecommunication services that are available,” he said.