The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has decided there should be no criminal charges pursued against anyone over the drowning deaths of two competitors at Youghal Ironman in 2023.
It has also emerged that on the day the two men died - during the swim leg after Storm Betty - 52 competitors did not complete the event and 29 of those required assistance during the swim from officials, including in boats and kayaks.
Brendan Wall (43), from Cadrath, Co Meath, and Ivan Chittenden (64), Toronto, Canada, both got into difficulty during the swim leg, in tough sea swimming conditions, and died. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene on August 20th, 2023.
Gardaí at the time launched an appeal for witnesses, and others who may be able to aid the inquiry into the deaths at the event. And though they said at the time no criminal investigation was underway, it has now emerged at the conclusion of the Garda's inquiry a file on the case was submitted to the DPP.
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The DPP's office receives investigative files from the Garda and reviews the evidence gathered. The office decides if a case is a suitable one for criminal charges and, if so, if there is sufficient evidence to ground a charge and sustain it through the courts process.
In the case of the Garda file sent after the investigation into the Youghal Ironman deaths, the DPP decided no charges should be pursued against any parties.
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The inquest in the deaths of the two men was told the two men died during the swim after the event was deemed safe to proceed, following repeated reviews of conditions in the 24 hours before the event.
The Half Ironman event was due to take place on Saturday, August 19th, but Storm Betty caused damage to the roads - where the run and swim were to take place. As a result, the Half Ironman was postponed until the following day, thus taking place on the same day as the full Ironman race.
The inquest into the men's deaths was told the 1.9km swim course had a series of safety supports in place, including 72 kayakers and paddle boarders along with 16 power boats.
The weather and sea conditions were monitored through Saturday, and were deemed to be improving. Further assessments were made at 3.30am on the day of the event and at first light at 5.15am. While waves were breaking in the first section of the swim, closest to shore, conditions were deemed safe by the event organisers for the race to commence in the water at 7am.
The inquest was told that Triathlon Ireland, which was supervising the event, did not sanction the swim section due to concerns over safety. Postmortem examinations on the remains of the men found they died due to acute cardio-respiratory failure due to drowning.
A verdict of accidental death was returned in the case of Mr Chittenden while the section of the inquest into Mr Wall's death was adjourned to allow for some further evidence.
More to come.
