Caitríona Lucas inquest: Rescue craft could have been on scene in 10 minutes if crew available 

Responding to questions on the third day of the inquest before Limerick coroner John McNamara, at Kilmallock Courthouse, Ms Hassett said she had informed Irish Coast Guard management the previous March (2016) of “escalating issues” which could affect rescue taskings due to “inter-personal” relations.

She said that Kilkee volunteer numbers had fallen from 30 in 2010, to 12 by 2013, and “four very experienced members” left in the weeks before the incident.

Ms Lucas, 41, an advanced coxswain with Doolin Coast Guard and a mother-of-two, died after the Kilkee Coast Guard Delta Rib she was on capsized during a search for a missing man on September 12, 2016.

Health and Safety Authority investigator Helen McCarthy also told the inquest that her employer had to seek legal advice before it could start its investigation, which delayed it by nine months, and she did not have immediate access to Ms Lucas’ personal protective equipment (PPE).

PPE was given to the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB), which did permit her to photograph Ms Lucas’ drysuit, but she could not take it into evidence.

She did not see Ms Lucas’ helmet and was sent a “cut-off” of the Irish Coast Guard logo from the drysuit.

The court heard the drysuit was disposed of in a skip.

Ms McCarthy said that no risk assessment had been prepared of the area where the capsize occurred, in Lookout Bay.

She said her investigation also showed that there were ongoing issues with the VHF radio on board the Rib that capsized, the coxswain was not trained for this position — according to Irish Coast Guard records — and personal locator beacons worn by the three crew failed.

Ms Lucas had been conscious in the sea for 17 minutes after the capsize, the inquest heard this week.

Questioned by marine expert Michael Kingston, representing the Lucas family, Ms Hassett said she was at Kilkee station when she took a “Mayday” call at 13.11pm on September 12, 2016, from Jenny Carway — one of the three crew out on the search in the Kilkee Delta Rib, with Ms Lucas and coxswain James Lucey.

Ms Hassett had been in the Kilkee station with colleague Lorraine Lynch at the time of the call.

She recalled that Martony Vaughan, officer-in-charge, and Garda John Moloney were outside the station.

She said they needed to launch the unit’s D-class vessel.

She returned to the station to get PPE for all three people, but when she came out again, both Ms Lynch and Mr Vaughan had gone to a nearby cliff in a Coast Guard jeep.

Ms Hassett recalled seeing a pleasure craft close to the pier some minutes earlier, and asked Gda Moloney to requisition it.

She then rescued Ms Carway from the water.

Ms Hassett told that inquest that she had “no doubt in her mind” that if she had gone out in the D-class with trained colleagues, they could have effected “a very good rescue”.

“We probably would have launched in five minutes and would have been at the site [of the incident] in five minutes ... so approximately 10 minutes,” she said.

Asked by Mr Kingston what difference it would have made if she had been able to launch the Kilkee D-class boat, she replied that it would have made “a big difference” as she had no equipment and had not worked with the pleasure craft crew.

“Had I been with Lorraine Lynch and Martony Vaughan, I have no doubt in my mind we could have effected a very good rescue attempt,” she said.

Ms Hassett recalled the circumstances under which she was due to take over as OIC from Mr Vaughan after a meeting on September 9, 2016, at Kilkee, which was attended by Irish Coast Guard management Micheál O’Toole and Declan Geoghegan.

She said this handover was not actually formalised over the weekend, when a search was initiated for a missing man at sea.

Also giving evidence, Irish Coast Guard director Micheál O’Toole — who was a coastal unit sector manager for the west and north-west at the time — confirmed that handover had not been formalised as the Valentia marine rescue sub-station had not been informed.

When the jury asked for clarification later in the proceedings as to why the D-class was not launched and who was in charge, the coroner said he understood that the transfer from Mr Vaughan to Ms Hassett had “not been crystallised”.

Speaking from the body of the court, Ms Hassett said that “at the end of the day, three of us were there and it was the common-sense thing to put three of us in the boat”.

When Ms Lynch and Mr Vaughan left the station in the Coast Guard jeep, she thought they were going to prepare the D-class — but was left on her own.

Mr O’Toole, who was regional manager at the time of the incident, said he had undertaken an operational readiness audit of the Kilkee unit in 2015 and had a “high degree of confidence” in the unit. 

The inquest continues on Thursday.