The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has apologised to Dublin City Coroner's Court for its failure to appear and give vital evidence at an inquest last Wednesday into the death of a four-year-old boy.
Alex Cuthbert, Éamon Ceannt Tower, Ballymun, Dublin, died in August 2001 when he was hit by a construction vehicle working on the Ballymun regeneration project.
The HSA was notified by the court to appear and give evidence, including its investigation report into the incident. But as no HSA official was present and because the gardaí failed to secure a jury, Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell was forced to adjourn the inquest for the eighth time.
Following a HSA investigation, PJ Carey Contractors Ltd was fined €40,000 and ordered to pay an estimated €12,000 costs at the Circuit Criminal Court last May in relation to a breach of safety regulations that led to Alex's death.
"We've been in touch with the coroner's court and apologised. We were notified by the court and it was a complete miscommunication on our part. A number of people involved with the investigation were on leave," a HSA spokesman said.
At the inquest on Wednesday, Joan Landy, the boy's mother, complained she had been given little information on the circumstances of her son's death. She expressed frustration that the case had been going on for five years. "We have no answers to anything. We're not entitled to any information and haven't been for 4½ years. We've been given no postmortem results. That's a disgrace. We've nothing. We want someone who is medically trained to tell us how he died."
Ms Landy added that she had to approach Temple Street Hospital to try to find out if her son was killed instantly or died later at the hospital.
The HSA spokesman said its report into the incident should answer some of the family's concerns. "All the information they are looking for should come out at the inquest. It was a dreadful, dreadful tragedy.
"During the investigation the Cuthbert family were foremost in our minds. The criminal proceedings took some time, which was frustrating. The family have raised some important questions and they deserve closure."
The HSA is setting up a support service for families bereaved though workplace accidents.