Father seeks answers after Coast Guard couldn’t recover son’s bod.

The father of a teenager who died at the Cliffs of Moher has ques-tioned why the Coast Guard could not recover his son’s body from the rocks two days after his fall, leaving it to the family to seek assistance from a diving club in the north-east of the country. Kieran Murray, father of Lochlann Murray (17), from Silverbridge, Co Armagh, said Monaghan-based club divers made a 555km round trip to an unfamiliar Atlantic coastline to recover his son’s body. Lochlann, an apprentice electrician, was an active member of Silverbridge Gaelic Football Club. He was reported missing on July 5 and his car was found close to the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare. Mr Murray told the Sunday Inde-pendent how he, his brother-in-law and several friends drove to Co Clare, and were told by gardai that a Civil Defence team with a drone would search for Lochlann. Once his body was located, however, they were told that the local Coast Guard unit could not help with recovery, and that a garda sub-aqua team would not get there for several more days as it was on another recovery operation.

“My niece then got on the phone, rang around local groups, and luckily the divers from Rockcorry responded,” he said. Frank McDermott, chairman of the Rockcorry Divers and North Coast Search and Recovery group, which provided the assistance, said that “in my years doing this type of recovery work, north and south of the Border, I have never come across a situation like this where a fam-ily was left pleading for help”. Doolin Coast Guard unit, once one of the busiest and most experienced in the State, has not been fully operational since November 2021 when 10 members were dismissed. One of the 10 experienced volunteers who was let go was Bernard Lucas, whose wife, advanced coxswain Caitriona Lucas, died while trying to assist a neighbour-ing unit at Kilkee. Mr McDermott paid tribute to Mr Lucas for offering to help them in the recovery of Lochlann’s body in a per-sonal capacity on July 7. “Bernard knew we were in an unfamiliar area, and we were at risk, and he was invaluable,” Mr McDermott said.

This sentiment was echoed by Mr Murray, who described how he and several friends descended to the ledge area to help the Monaghan divers put his son’s body into a body bag. It was then floated out to the divers’ rigid-inflatable boat and taken ashore at Doolin. ‘We could see the divers were exhausted just trying to get ashore to locate Loch-lann. As we helped them, we were being hit by waves, rocks were falling, and we had to haul the body bag over large boulders,” Mr Murray said. “It was just harrowing — at one point, I thought we were all going to lose our lives.” Mr Lucas confirmed this was one of several incidents where he and colleagues have helped families who lost relatives below the cliffs as Doolin Coast Guard’s cliff climbing unit was not available. He said he and a group of former Coast Guard volunteers now planned to set up their own search-and-recov-ery group to help fill a gaping void in a very busy tourist area — once they can secure insurance and funding.

John O’Mahony, of the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers’ Representative Asso-ciation, comprising current and former Coast Guard members who have been seeking reforms, said it was “horrified” at what the family and the Monaghan divers had to go through. “The Doolin unit, as it was formerly, was exceptional and should never have been taken out of service by Irish Coast Guard management,” Mr O’Mahony said. “We will be supporting Bernard Lucas in his fundraising efforts.” Asked for comment, the Department of Transport on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard said that between July 5 and 7, Doolin Coast Guard Unit “carried out boat and drone operations” at the request of gardai. “When the body was sighted, it was assessed that it would require a dive team to recover the body, as it was not otherwise accessible by boat or helicop-ter,” the department said. “Options on deployment of available diving units were already under consid-eration by An Garda Siochana. “On July 7, a body was recovered by the Rockcorry Diving Club and was transferred to An Garda Siochana at Doolin pier. The Coast Guard extends its sincere condolences to the family on this sad occasion.” The garda press office said that “gen-erally when a person is reported to have entered the water, a request is submitted for the Coast Guard to assist with the search for that person”. “It is a matter for the Irish Coast Guard to respond as to the deployment of their members,” it said. “In the event of a recovery, garda water unit or navy divers may be requested to carry out such recoveries. “An Garda Siochana in Clare have a close working relationship with Doolin Coast Guard who have at all times responded and assisted fam-ilies in tragic circumstances.” The garda press office said it would “not be appropriate to comment on individual cases”. “Chief Superintendent Aileen Magner would like to extend her deepest con-dolences to the family of the bereaved,” it said.

Frank McDermott (Rockcorry) and the crew of the Rockcorry Divers were called into action last weekend for a major recovery operation off the Cliffs of Moher where they, with the help and support of ex coast guard, Bernard Lucas, and the Clare Civil Defence, helped to recover the body of a seventeen-year-old Armagh youth who had gotten into difficulties near the Cliffs.

Mr McDermott, the chairman of the Rockcorry Divers, criticised the lack of urgency from emergency services following the body recovery in Clare. The Rockcorry Divers received a call from the Armagh family on Saturday who were desperate to recover their 17-year-old family member who had fallen from the Cliffs of Moher.

It’s believed that the boy’s body had been lying at the bottom of the cliffs for up to 48 hours. In a round trip of more than 550 kms, the Rockcorry crew travelled to Clare to take part in the recovery. Mr McDermott stated that “Poor weather conditions in recent days, along with the swell and large rocks, made the recovery very difficult. Falling debris from the face of the cliff was another hazard the dive team had to be aware of. Divers made their way ashore to the base of the cliffs around 2:30 p.m., and at around 3:30 p.m., the body was located.

The dive team successfully recovered the remains into their support vessel. The body was taken back to the Coast Guard station in Doolin.” The Doolin Coast Guard has a state-of-the-art station fully equipped less than 300m away from the slip way. Mr McDermott said he was shocked at the lack of activity from some government bodies to the incident. He stated that the immediate family members had to make their way down to the scene of the incident-which was an extremely treacherous route- and assist in trying to get the body in the water, which was then floated out to the waiting boat.

Following the recovery the chairman of the Rockcorry Divers stated that “Unfortunately I have to draw attention to the whole experience of this recovery in that, on our arrival, we were told that we were here as a private body and no assistance would be given in the recovery. A covering boat would have been greatly appreciated and added to the safety for all involved in the rescue. “Given the rugged terrain, the reality was that if our boat had experienced difficulties, we would be in a very serious situation. It was extremely sad to see family members having to assist in the recovery of the body of their loved one.”

While we have the greatest respect for the Irish Coast Guard and the trojan efforts of the Clare Civil Defence in their unending and extremely tough work, I just feel strongly that there is an issue to be addressed at the Cliffs of Moher with regard to sea safety to prevent future heartbreak for other families.”