A man who drowned at Killiney Beach in south Dublin was an “extremely active man, up to the age of 81,” an inquest has heard.
An all-year-round swimmer at the beach, Niall O’Donoghue from Killiney was seen face down in the water “very close to the shore” before being pulled out in May 2022.
His son, Philip O’Donoghue, told the inquest that his father had taken a video before entering the water, which showed an empty beach.
Family members also described the water in the video as being calm and “like glass that morning.”
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Mr O’Donoghue had suffered a cardiac arrest some six months before his death, though his daughter Emma told how he “worked his way back to his health”, and had been weight training, alongside jogging and swimming regularly.
Mr O’Donoghue had been fit his entire life, the inquest heard.
The sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday was delayed for several hours as the sole eye witness who was due to give evidence did not attend.
Garda Dean Gahan of Shankill Garda station, who responded to the incident on the day, said a Garda patrol car had been sent to the house of the witness. However, there was no response.
Bridget McCaul, whose statement was read out in her absence, knew Mr O’Donoghue through a local swimming club and pulled him out from the water before ringing emergency services, noting that he was unresponsive at the time.
Gardaí, paramedics and the Coast Guard responded, with CPR managing to restore circulation “to a point”, though it failed to bring about a normal rhythm and his heart had stopped by the time he reached St Vincent’s emergency department by ambulance, the inquest heard.
He was pronounced deceased soon after.
Alongside fluid in his lungs, a postmortem noted his left coronary artery had up to 90 per cent narrowing, a risk factor for cardiac arrest, the inquest heard.
Dr Gallagher recorded the cause of death as drowning due to ischemic heart disease related to cardiac arrest. She also returned a verdict of accidental death. “I don’t believe he drowned because he got out of his depth or because he’s not a good enough swimmer,” she said.
Dr Gallagher said the cardiac event could have been fatal in other circumstances, however, he happened to be in water at the time and then drowned.
“He sounds like an extremely active man, up to the age of 81 and very determined and really enjoyed excellent health,” she said, aside from the cardiac arrest in 2021, “which didn’t stop him living his life the way he wanted to.”
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