THE GARDA is trying to establish how a woman fell to her death from a fairground ride outside the O2 arena in Dublin after attending a Britney Spears concert.
The deceased, who has been named as 31-year-old Siobhán Healy from Co Roscommon, fell from the Tip Top ride just before 11.30pm on Monday.
Garda sources said it appears Ms Healy fell from the ride and hit a part of the machinery, before falling to her death on the ground below in the Point Village.
The dead woman was from outside Ballinlough in Co Roscommon and was an only child. She is survived by her mother Doreen; her father is dead.
A Garda source said the ride from which Ms Healy fell was fitted with safety bars and that it remains unclear how or indeed if this system had failed and resulted in the fatal fall.
“We’re examining if the safety bar was working properly and engaged properly or if somehow came out from behind it and fell. We simply don’t know yet exactly what happened,” said one source.
Gardaí have appealed for a man using a camera phone to record the funfair ride at the time of the accident to come forward.
Ms Healy, who was living in Dublin, was pronounced dead at the scene and the area where she fell and the Tip Top ride were sealed off.
They were examined by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. Investigators from the Health and Safety Authority are also investigating the matter.
Councillor Michael McGreal, a neighbour and family friend, said the local community in Ballinlough was “shocked”.
The ride from which Ms Healy fell was run by funfair operator Kenneth McFadden, owner of McFadden’s Entertainment. Mr McFadden said he was devastated for the woman’s family.
“We can’t say [what happened], it all happened so quick,” he said.
“We are just in bits at the moment. We are just devastated.”
Mr McFadden, whose son also runs fairground rides at the site, said he was not going to open for business on Monday night because of the severe weather but decided to do so after the rain cleared up.
The fairground operator said he has had the Tip Top ride for four or five years and never had any problems with it. Investigators are hoping the incident was captured on CCTV, he added
A spokesman for the O2 arena said Mr McFadden rents the ground at the adjacent Point Village from Crosby Properties.