Finance Minister Michael McGrath said it was of the utmost importance that a full investigation be completed into the deaths of two contestants at yesterday’s Iron Man event in Youghal, Co. Cork.
Speaking in Cork today, Minister McGrath described the deaths of Evan Chittenden and Brendan Wall as a “terrible tragedy”.
“My heart goes out to the families of the two persons who tragically lost their lives in Youghal yesterday. I know that Ironman Ireland will, of course, be carrying out their own investigation to establish the full circumstances of what happened and, of course, the post mortems will take place today and that will feed into the coroner’s court hearing eventually into this. But it is a terrible, terrible tragedy – it is clear that the conditions were particularly challenging in the water from reading the testimony of many of the other participants,” reports The Mirror.
“I am very conscious that two people have just died yesterday. First and foremost our thoughts and prayers are with the families who must be in a terrible state of shock and mourning at this time. But of course when two people lose their lives in circumstances such as this, it is important that the full facts of what happened are established and that any questions that are being asked are comprehensively answered,” the Minister continued, reports The Mirror.
“I have no doubt the organisers of the event will conduct a comprehensive investigation into what happened. Cork Co Council is a lead sponsor of the event and I have no doubt that they will want a full account of what happened as well. It may be that Water Safety Ireland (WSI) will also be asking questions and wish to fully understand the facts and the circumstances of what happened. It is such a terrible tragedy,” the Minister added, reports The Mirror.
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