GARDAÍ SAY they are satisfied there is no connection between the deaths of two teenage students from Rice College, Westport, who died within eight days of each other last February.
Speaking yesterday at inquests in Castlebar into the deaths of the two Junior Certificate students, Sgt Denis Harrington said there was no evidence to link the deaths and described them as two separate tragedies.
Sgt Harrington made his comments after the coroner for south Mayo, John O'Dwyer, had returned verdicts of suicide in both cases.
One of the 15-year-olds was found dead in the schoolyard at Rice College on February 18th following an extensive search by relatives and gardaí.
Eight days later, on February 26th, the body of a second third-year student was found in a disused building on Mill Street.
At yesterday's inquests, the fathers of both youths described their sons as normal teenagers.
The father of the youth found dead at Rice College on February 18th broke into tears yesterday as he recalled his son who would have been 16 next October and was the eldest of three brothers.
He said he was stunned by the death, which came "like a bolt from the blue". His son had been a "raring to go" individual and was not depressed.
"I could never see him doing this. He was in a grand frame of mind on Sunday evening."
The father of the second student who took his own life said his son had been a normal lad. He had had his "ups and downs" with his son but he had had no real difficulties with him. He had been a good student.
The coroner told both families they should not feel guilty over what had happened. He said if someone was determined to take their own life they would do so and you could not keep them under 24-hour surveillance. In these particular cases there was no evidence that what had happened was likely to happen.
After the coroner had returned verdicts of death by suicide in both cases, he and Supt Eugene Brennan, on behalf of the Garda, extended their deepest sympathy to the bereaved families.
The untimely deaths of the two students within a short time of each other in February plunged staff and students at the 450-pupil Rice College, as well as the wider community, into grief.
Counsellors from the National Educational Psychological Service provided individual counselling, as well as group counselling, for those who needed it at the time.