The drug ecstasy was a contributory factor in the death of a 17-year-old boy who fell from the fourth-floor balcony of flats in Ballymun, Dublin, a coroner's jury found yesterday.
Joseph Fitzsimons of Belclare Grove, Poppintree, fell in the early hours of Good Friday, April 13th, 2001, after attending a gettogether with other young people in a flat at Balcurris Road.
Mr Noel Foley told the inquest that about seven of them went to the flat on the sixth floor. All were drinking. Fitzsimons suddenly jumped up and said everybody should dance. He fell against a table and knocked ornaments over. He had taken off his top and shoes and socks.
Mr Foley said they decided Fitzsimons should go and they got him out onto the balcony. Later they saw him on a lower balcony. "He was just hyper, sitting there one minute and the next dancing."
Mr Paul Moorehouse said Joseph Fitzsimons was drunk and fell down. He helped him out of the flat.He went back in to get a taxi and later heard screaming and saw Fitzsimons on the ground.
The inquest heard a deposition from Ms Amanda Walsh, in which she said it was her flat and she saw Joseph Fitzsimons being given two tablets and take one.
Mr David Tennyson had gone to the flats to pick up his girlfriend. He saw a man hanging by his hands from one of the balconies on the fourth floor and then he saw him fall.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said a toxicology report showed a significant level of alcohol and ecstasy. "There is no doubt that alcohol and ecstasy were significant contributory factors," he said.
The jury returned a verdict of misadventure.