The mother of a young Dublin man who drowned after a night out socialising has blamed the poor condition of a walkway next to the Grand Canal for his death.
Robert Cahill (24) died after falling into the canal at Dolphin’s Barn as he was making his way home after leaving a friend’s house in Inchicore in the early hours of September 26th last year.
His mother, Linda Cahill, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday that she believed the poor condition of the walkway next to the canal near Dolphin’s Barn bridge where his body was found was responsible for how he came to be in the water.
“As far as I’m concerned that path took his life,” said Ms Cahill who described her late son as “a brilliant swimmer”.
Breaking down in tears in the witness box, she added: “He could still be here with us today.”
Ms Cahill told the coroner, Clare Keane, that she believed he must have tripped and hit his head on the path before falling into the river as otherwise he would have been able to swim. She claimed the condition of the towpath, including steps down from the public footpath on Parnell Road, was “horrendous”.
Ms Cahill said she had last seen her son when he left the family home at Buttercup Avenue, Darndale the previous morning to go out cycling and he was “in great spirits”. She also expressed disappointment that no representative of Dublin City Council had attended the inquest.
In a statement the deceased’s father, Eamonn Gibson, described how he received news of his son’s death at his home in Lanzarote, Spain. “It was a total shock. I did not know what shock was until I got that call,” he observed.
The inquiry heard that Mr Cahill’s body was found in bushes in the canal by a man kayaking.
Det Sgt Brendan O’Halloran told the inquest that the walkway next to the canal where the body was located was “a rough, tarmacadamed path”.
In response to queries from the coroner, he said there had been incidents at the same location in the past including drownings and trips but he could not provide specific details. He could not say if any changes had been made in the area as a result of such incidents.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said the pathway was in regular use but he described its condition as “uneven and broken” and damaged by tree roots in places. He said a Garda investigation had been unable to establish where, when and how Mr Cahill had entered the water. He said no CCTV footage of him could be found after he had left a house on Stephen’s Road in Inchicore.
Adam Darcy told the inquest that a group of friends including the deceased had met up the previous afternoon at The Living Room sports bar on Cathal Brugha Street before they left at about 10pm to go to his house in Inchicore where they watched a boxing fight on TV. Mr Darcy said Mr Cahill had decided at about 2am to go home and he walked him out the door. He said his friend had put up both his thumbs and he assumed he had ordered a taxi to get home.
Mr Darcy said there was “a void” as a result of the death of his friend, whom he described as “an absolutely lovely fellow”. Although Mr Cahill had vomited in a laneway after leaving the bar, Mr McDonald said his friend regularly got sick as he had “a weak stomach” for alcohol.
The coroner said the result of a postmortem showed that Mr Cahill had died as a result of drowning. She confirmed that a toxicology report had shown evidence of the consumption of alcohol and cocaine.
Dr Keane said cocaine was known for its potential to cause an irregular heartbeat regardless of how much of the drug had been consumed. However, she could not state if it was a contributory factor in Mr Cahill’s death. Based on the evidence which could not establish how the deceased entered the canal, Dr Keane returned an open verdict.
The coroner said she would draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the concerns raised by Mr Cahill’s family and recommend that they should “look at” the area. Following the hearing, Ms Cahill expressed hope that the outcome of the inquest would result in improvements to footpaths next to the Grand Canal near Dolphin’s Barn.
“It’s a shame that a load of people including several homeless people seem to have died at this spot and nothing seems to have been done,” said Ms Cahill.