Rally where driver died should not have gone ahead because of weather, inquest hears

Olivia Kelleher

A stage commander at a forest rally where a young driver died after his car veered off track and overturned into a flooded stream has told an inquest that the event should have been cancelled because of the poor weather conditions.

Eoin McCarthy of Dunmanway, Co Cork, died on February 20th, 2022, when the Honda Civic car he was driving slid into a stream amid heavy rain during the fourth stage of the Killarney Forestry Rally at Castleisland in Co Kerry.

The event had taken place two days after Storm Eunice, which was the subject of a Status Red weather warning.

Stage Commander Declan O’Leary was volunteering to man stage 4 of the rally on the afternoon of February 20th, 2022, having previously manned the same area that morning.

He told an inquest at Cork Coroner’s Court on Wednesday that there had been some general conversation about the inclement weather at stage one of the event that morning.

However, he had no authority or role in the decision-making process about whether the event should proceed or not,

Derek Ryan, representing the McCarthy family, asked what his opinion was as to whether the rally should have gone ahead that day.

O’Leary said in hindsight, given the high winds and rain, it should have been called off.

O’Leary led emergency services to the scene of the accident after a competitor informed him that the crash was extremely serious.

The McCarthy family thanked O’Leary for his assistance to their loved one at the scene.

Meanwhile, O’Leary said that a person took a recording of the scene of the accident and sent it to him on WhatsApp.

He was at the scene himself when the 20 seconds of footage arrived in his WhatsApp account.

The clip showed the rally car, which was driving at a slow speed as it was “falling into the river.” O’Leary instantly deleted the footage.

He also said that there was no mobile coverage at stage 4 of the event when the accident happened.

“Eir, Vodafone, Three… none of them were working.”

He first became aware that stage 4 had been stopped by radio control. When he realised how serious the crash was, he updated radio control and made the decision for emergency services to go in.

He said that stage commanders were able to make that decision in “extenuating circumstances".

Meanwhile, radio controller Anthony O’Connor said that because of his own separate personal circumstances involving the loss of a daughter, he had chosen to “shelve to the back of his mind” what occurred on the day of the accident.

He said that he felt desperately sorry for the McCarthy family but had used his “inbuilt mechanism for coping” with this tragedy.

He said that he was frustrated at having to make at least five 999 calls to the HSE before the operators accepted that a helipad would be required at the scene.

The inquest will continue on Thursday.