THE PARENTS of a 22-year-old woman who was killed on an unfinished road surface near Mulranny, Co Mayo, almost seven years ago expressed deep disappointment yesterday after a jury at her inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. Tommy and Kathleen Gallagher, Bunnacurry, Achill Island, blamed a temporary road coating, dense bitumen macadam (DBM) as well as the absence of warning signs, for their daughter’s death on December 22nd, 2004.
Ashling Gallagher was killed instantly when her Volkswagen Caddy van “inexplicably” veered on to the wrong side of the road into the path of a cement mixer truck. After an inquest lasting eight days at Castlebar courthouse yesterday, a six-person jury returned a verdict that her death was accidental.
Following the jury’s verdict, the Gallaghers and their solicitor, Damian Tansey, said that civil proceedings had already been initiated against the local authority.
Speaking on the courthouse steps, Tommy Gallagher said he felt a different verdict might have served the community better. “We pursued the case for Ashling’s sake, maybe in memory of Ashling and who she was, in that she wouldn’t want similar circumstances to prevail that would take another life.”
Kathleen Gallagher pledged the family’s fight would continue. “We’re not going to give up now. We are disappointed today but are going to continue. Hopefully, in a day not too far from now we will have a different result.”
Ms Gallagher said DBM binder course is not accepted in Britain as a safe surface on which to travel at maximum speed, yet it was acceptable here. “I have difficulty accepting that; I think it’s unfair to the Irish people. We are all supposed to be upgrading standards.
“I think the day is coming, if it’s not here already, when we will have to look at standards on our roads and how they can be responsible for death. That’s a question and it needs a lot of sorting out. We’re not finished by any means,” she added.
Mayo County Council denied responsibility for the crash. Following the hearing, the council, which was represented at the inquest by Aongus Ó Brolcháin SC, John Jordan and Ward McEllin, solicitor, issued a statement expressing its sympathy to the members of the Gallagher family.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the coroner, John O’Dwyer, also expressed sympathy with the Gallaghers on the loss of “a cherished child” and also to Tom Munster, the driver of the lorry involved in the fatal impact.
Mr Tansey, for the Gallagher family, said the loss of their daughter had caused the family endless sleepless nights and would continue to do so.
The family, Mr Tansey added, had pursued the matter robustly not for aggrandisement but to ensure tragedies like this do not happen in the future.
Over the course of the hearing, conflicting opinions were offered by experts as to the safety for motorists to drive on DBM.
A number of expert witnesses gave evidence that the binder surface was safe to drive on at the normal 100km/h (62mph) speed limit, but others strongly disagreed stating the surface was not designed to take traffic.