Builder fined €250,000 after faulty wall kills two men

A building company has been fined €250,000 for breaching construction regulations after a wall at a Longford DIY store fell, killing two men and injuring two others.

Paddy Gaffney (63) and Seán Mulleady (49) died when an internal wall at the former Connacht Gold premiseson Athlone Road, Longford, collapsed on January 29th, 2013.

Vincent Ruane Construction was charged with breaching Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Regulations by failing to provide restraints at the head and end of the block wall.

Vincent Ruane, a director at the Co Mayo firm, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to the offence at dates unknown between January 23rd, 2012, and March 31st, 2012, inclusive.

The court was told there were four employees on site at the time when the wall collapsed along with four customers and a sales representative.

Both Mr Mulleady and Mr Gaffney were taken to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar but died later that evening from their injuries.

In a victim-impact statement on behalf of her mother Patsy, Denise Nolan, Mr Gaffney’s daughter, told the court that her father had survived a back operation, heart surgery and beaten cancer before tragedy struck.

Head wound

Patsy Gaffney had been waiting in the car for her husband when she was alerted to an incident inside the store.

She found her husband surrounded by debris, sitting upright with blood pouring from a head wound.

“He was able to tell me that he ‘wasn’t going to make it this time’,” she said.

On behalf of Mr Mulleady’s wife Teresa, her sister Eileen Sorohan said instead of receiving flowers from her husband on New Year’s Day, she now puts them on his grave.

“The realisation that we have no control on our lives – mistakes made by others can kill – the fear of living in that world and rearing children in that world is hard to cope with each day,” she said.

Judge Hannon said the maximum fine the court could hand down was €3 million.

However, taking into account the company’s plea and the fact the firm was “asset rich but cash poor”, he said the penalty “must be realistic”.

“Don’t think that the fine reflects in any way the value of the lives that have been lost,” he told the victims’ families.

The company was given nine months to pay the fine and costs linked to the case.