An ESB engineer has described a halting site where two young boys died in a caravan fire last year as "one of the most dangerous sites I've ever seen".
Michael (2½) and Joseph McGinley (22 months) died on November 27th last year when the caravan in which they were alone caught fire at a halting site at Oldcastle, off the Nangor Road, Clondalkin, Dublin.
Dublin County Coroner's Court heard yesterday that the cause of the fire was not believed to be due to an electrical fault. Its source was undetermined but it was possible that it originated from a plug-in heater, Det Garda John Higgins told the court.
Robert Kavanagh, an ESB engineer who inspected the caravan following the fatal fire, said an electrical wire, flex and socket running through the caravan "were covered in duck tape and highly dangerous". But as none of the connections were live or fire damaged, Mr Kavanagh said he did not believe an electrical fault caused the fire.
Dangerous electrical connections at the site were such that Mr Kavanagh initially informed South Dublin County Council he intended to switch off the site's electricity supply. But having received reassurances from the council that they would immediately make it safe, he agreed not to deactivate its electrical supply, he told the court.
Philip Murphy, of the South Dublin County Council, said the council supplied electricity to people living at the halting site but "unfortunately, the electrical supply is the subject of tampers". He said that regular site inspections were ongoing but "interference does take place . . . primarily for the purpose of free electricity".
The inquest heard that some of the electrical bays were being overused and had been damaged by tampering. Mr Murphy said people living at the site were warned about the dangers of interfering with the electrical supply and it was "unfortunate that they don't take our advice". He added that the council employed a caretaker at the site who regularly checked the electricity bays. "It was really a very tragic accident. Everyone at the county council felt very touched by the incident," he said.
Willie McGinley told the court he had wired electricity into the caravan where his two children died. Outside court, Mr McGinley said he did not accept that the fire was not started by an electrical fault. He said he was left with "no choice" but to run electricity through someone else's electricity bays as the council had deactivated his electrical supply.
"It's South Dublin County Council's fault because they cut off our electricity. We will get our rights," he said outside court. The council declined to comment when contacted yesterday.
The inquest heard that Willie and Lisa McGinley left their two sons in the care of the children's aunt, Anne McGinley, while they went to the hospital as Mrs McGinley had broken out in a rash.
Anne McGinley left the two boys alone in the caravan strapped into a car seat and a pram for 10 minutes while she went to get water and use the bathroom. She left the plugged-in heater out of their reach and facing the opposite direction so they could not throw anything at it, according to her statement. When she returned, the caravan was ablaze.
She tried to enter the caravan but was beaten back by the flames. "Then I pulled off the window. I caught the pram and tried to drag it out. My hair and the back of my head went on fire . . . I had to let go," according to her statement read out in court. "I tried to go back in but a man grabbed on to me . . . I still can't believe they're gone."
A jury recorded a verdict of accidental death in the case of both children and a postmortem revealed they died from smoke inhalation. The extensive burns to their bodies, which made identification difficult, occurred after they were already dead, according to State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy's report.