A young boy who died from a drowning incident at a swimming pool in a hotel in Offaly three years ago had removed his armbands shortly after getting into the water, an inquest has heard.
A verdict of death by misadventure was returned into how Oliver Forde, sustained fatal injuries after getting into difficulty in the pool at the Tullamore Court Hotel in Tullamore, Co Offaly on May 29th, 2022.
Oliver (6), a pupil at Harold’s Cross National School from Innismore, Crumlin, Dublin died on May 31st, 2022 at Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin where he had been transferred two days earlier from the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore.
At a hearing in Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Monday, the boy’s mother Nina Mahon wept openly at evidence her son gave life to four other patients as a result of the decision to donate his heart, liver and kidneys.
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The inquest heard evidence that no hotel staff or anyone in the pool had seen the boy get into difficulty.
In a written statement, Oliver’s father Denis Forde described how he had seen his son take off his armbands in the pool when he and his three children had gone swimming in the hotel after returning from a day out.
Mr Forde, who did not attend the inquest, said he walked around the pool and into the changing areas after he had looked around at one stage and could not see his son.
“I only took my eyes off Oliver for a second,” he said.
When he returned to the pool area, Mr Forde said he immediately jumped into the water when he saw his son at the bottom of the pool.
He recalled that his older son Jack, who was eight at the time, thought his younger brother was “only joking.” The boy told his father he believed Oliver was trying to copy him by taking off his armbands.
Mr Forde said he regularly took his sons away for weekends after he had separated from their mother in June 2020 and they had stayed at the Tullamore Court Hotel on a number of occasions.
He said Oliver and his younger son Lucas, aged three at the time, were both wearing armbands when they got into the pool which was 1.3 metres deep with no shallow or deep end.
A lifeguard on duty, Adrian Carroll, gave evidence that he was near the reception area of the hotel’s leisure centre when he became aware of the incident at around 6.40pm.
Mr Carroll said he helped Mr Forde get the boy out of the pool and began to provide CPR to the victim before paramedics arrived on the scene.
He told the coroner Clare Keane that it was the hotel’s policy that two people, including one lifeguard, were on duty at all times at the leisure centre.
Mr Carroll explained that during non-busy periods, the person in reception took over responsibility for monitoring the pool if he was performing another task away from the pool area or on a break.
The inquest heard that a person in the reception area had a view of the entire swimming pool through a glass window.
Another employee working on reception, Mandy Kelly, said she was in the reception area and conducting a test on the pool water when she noticed Mr Forde looking for something and asked Mr Carroll to check what was going on.
She then heard a shout and dialled 999 after realising what was happening.
A consultant in emergency medicine Seán O’Rourke, who was alerted to the incident, said he found the boy in cardiac arrest at the side of the pool.
Dr O’Rourke said there was no evidence of any heart activity and the boy’s heartbeat was only restored at 7.25pm while he was in hospital in Tullamore.
The hotel’s general manager, Philip O’Brien, gave evidence that the hotel had a policy that a minimum of one lifeguard was on duty at all times that the pool was open.
Mr O’Brien told the inquest that several changes had been made following Oliver’s tragic death including more stringent rules relating to children accompanied by adults.
Counsel for the hotel, Ronan Kennedy SC, who had offered condolences to Oliver’s family at the start of the inquest, pointed out that there is no legislation requiring the operators of swimming pools to have a lifeguard on duty.
The inquest heard most operated guidelines issued jointly by Water Safety Ireland, Swim Ireland and Ireland Active.
Ms Mahon, who has previously expressed dismay about delays in finding out how her son had died, told the hearing that she had never known before the inquest what had happened to Oliver or received an apology.
Fighting back tears, she said: “I will never ever get over the loss of my son but will have to try for my other boys. This day has really helped.”
The coroner said the case highlighted how such tragedies could occur “in the blink of an eye” in water.
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