Coroner’s inquest scheduled into death of Clare Coastguard volunteer Caitríona Lucas

A coroner’s inquest hearing has been scheduled into the death of Irish Coastguard volunteer and mother of two Caitríona Lucas (41), more than six years after her death.

Limerick Coroner’s Office has confirmed the inquest will take place at Kilmallock Courthouse in Co Limerick on April 12th. Ms Lucas lost her life during an Irish coastguard search operation at Kilkee in west Clare on September 12th 2016.

Bernard Lucas, her husband, welcomed the new on Friday, saying “it’s about time”.

He said: “I welcome it because by the time the inquest is held in April it will be six years and seven months. It’s about time. I don’t know why there was a delay this long. We welcome that a date has been finally set for it.”

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A native of Ballyvaughan in north Clare, librarian Ms Lucas, whose children Ben and Emma were aged 20 and 18 at the time of her death, was the first Irish Coast Guard volunteer to lose their life during active service.

Her death prompted two separate State Investigations.

An Advanced Coxswain with the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard, Ms Lucas was helping a neighbouring Coast Guard unit from Kilkee in the search for a missing man on Sept 12th 2016 when the rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that she was in capsized in a shallow cove.

Two Kilkee crew members with her were rescued, but Ms Lucas, who sustained a head injury, died in hospital. All three crew had lost their helmets, and the boat’s radio was not working. Ms Lucas hadn’t expected to go to sea but the unit was short a crew member.

As Ms Lucas was pronounced dead in hospital in Limerick, responsibility for her inquest is with the Limerick coroner’s office. Ms Lucas had been a member of the Doolin unit of the Irish Coastguard since 2006.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report on Ms Lucas’s death concluded that the Irish Coast Guard (ICG) did not have an effective safety management system. The ICG contested the MCIB’s draft findings in a detailed response, published in the appendix of the board’s final report.

In 2020, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided that no criminal charges should be brought in relation to the tragedy after a report was forwarded to it by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

Mr Lucas has said he was “very disappointed” that the published MCIB report failed to address questions over the safety equipment his wife was wearing.