Council official held in inquiry into deaths of two firemen

A SENIOR official of Wicklow County Council was yesterday arrested by gardaí as part of the investigation into the deaths of two part-time firemen in Bray in 2007.

The official, the fourth person to be arrested in relation to the inquiry, arrived by appointment at Bray Garda station with his solicitor shortly after 8am yesterday. He was arrested under Section 13 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act on suspicion of committing an offence of reckless endangerment. He was then detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, and can be questioned for up to 24 hours. It is understood the official has been questioned twice before under caution by gardaí.

A spokesman for the council said it would be making no comment on the arrest as it concerned an ongoing investigation.

Sinn Féin, Labour and Independent members of the council yesterday backed a motion to call a special meeting of Wicklow County Council, likely to be scheduled for later this week or Monday next, as a result of the arrest.

Sinn Féin councillor John Brady said he would be calling for the official concerned to step aside from his duties until the outcome of the investigation into the deaths of the firemen. Mr Brady said the necessary five signatures required to call a special meeting had been secured, but he said he would also be seeking wider support from members of other parties.

The Garda investigation is into the deaths of Brian Murray (46), The Green, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, and Mark O’Shaughnessy (26), Loreto House, Sidmonton, Bray, both Co Wicklow, who died during an attempt to bring a warehouse fire under control on September 26th, 2007.

Yesterday’s development follows a Garda raid on Wicklow County Council offices in February, during which a number of boxes of files and computer records were removed.

The men were investigating a fire at a disused factory in Bray when the roof collapsed. They were dead by the time their colleagues reached them.

Mr Murray, a father of 13 children, was a sub-officer in Bray, second in charge of a station of 15 firefighters. His younger colleague, Mr O’Shaughnessy, was single. The inquest into the men’s deaths has been adjourned several times to give gardaí more time to investigate.

Concerns were raised by the men’s families that the two part-time firemen had been alone when trying to bring the fire under control. The families claim there was a delay in responding to the fire, as it was out of control by the time fire crews arrived. They believe this was a major factor in the men’s deaths.

Before it was adjourned, a brief hearing of the inquest in November 2008 was told that Mr Murray had raised safety concerns not long before his death.

He wrote to a senior fire service official three weeks before his death after office workers were asked to check a fire themselves before the fire service was called out.

The Garda investigation is running in tandem with a Health and Safety Authority investigation. Under consideration are a number of issues around the men’s training and the equipment with which they had been issued.

The resourcing and administration of the fire service is also being examined.

The men’s families have called for an independent inquiry into the deaths and total reform of fire services throughout the country.

The families have also hired consultants to examine the case.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Brady said the arrest was “an unprecedented move”. He said computers and files at Wicklow County Council were now being sought simultaneously by the High Court, the Garda and the Health and Safety Authority “and I think should now stand aside until this is cleared up”.