A firefighter who arrived at the house of an elderly couple who died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning found that a flue had been blocked by plaster, an inquest was told yesterday.
The Dublin city coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, opened the inquest into the deaths of Mr Thomas MacGabhann (82) and his wife Mrs Treasa MacGabhann (81) of Annaville Park, Dundrum, on September 24th, 2003. He later adjourned it until December 2nd to hear expert reports.
The inquest was told that the couple had converted from oil to gas central heating in 1993. The boiler was in the garage with the flue on the outside wall.
The couple had sold a plot of land at the back of the house where builders were working. The garage wall had been plastered by the builder of new houses in agreement with them.
Mr John Ryan, an A&E consultant in St Vincent's, said Mrs MacGabhann was admitted to the unit on September 23rd. She was feeling faint, dizzy, had tingling in her fingers, weakness in her legs, was tired and generally unwell. She was discharged after tests. On September 24th she was brought in again in cardiac arrest and he was involved in the resuscitation.
Asked by the coroner if there were any obvious signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, Mr Ryan said it was one of the considerations when two people had died like that. "I did take a blood sample which showed very high levels of carbon monoxide."
Firefighter Mr John Rogers said he went to the house on September 24th at 1 p.m. The man was lying in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, and the woman was sitting in a chair.
"There was a smell of fumes. It didn't smell like gas to me, it was something else. When I went to look at the boiler, it was really strong," he said.
Mr Rogers went to look at the flue with an employee of Bord Gáis. He got builders to break around the plaster.
"The fumes came out through the hole where we hammered through," he said.
Mr Joseph O'Callaghan of Bord Gáis said: "The flue was completely cemented over and the fumes had no way of escaping. The fire officer got builders to knock the plaster out and we got a blast of fumes straight in the face."
The inquest was told that on September 18th Bord Gáis was called by the builders to repair pipes at the back. On September 22nd the gas was turned back on in the house.
Mr Ciaran O'Neill, a partner in the building firm which bought the land, said after the walls had been plastered, he did some tidying up of the plaster work but did not plaster over the vent.
He said it was clear there was plaster over the slots when he saw it on September 24th.
Mr Donal O'Toole, a plasterer, said: "I remember doing plastering around the vent, I think in July, and I remember clearing it with my finger. I cleaned around the vent with a wire brush. The gap was still there when I walked away from it." He said he had not plastered over the vent. "It was completely clear."