A TEENAGE Dublin boy who died in hospital yesterday after being hit by lightning on Saturday afternoon has been described as someone who was "very funny, happy and friendly."
Patrick Ryan Corr (14) was an aspiring mechanic who had a love of motorbikes, quadbikes, fishing and snooker. Yesterday his friends and relatives were laying bouquets of flowers at the spot where he was struck.
The boy was taken to the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght after he was hit by lightning at about 4.30pm as he walked home across a green area between Kilclare Gardens and Kilclare Crescent, Tallaght, during a violent storm.
A spokeswoman for the hospital confirmed that he died in the early hours of yesterday morning. It is understood that he never regained consciousness.
What appeared to be scorchmarks, as well packaging from a defibrillator used by members of the emergency services as they tried to resuscitate him, were yesterday visible close to a wall next to where he was hit.
Graffiti saying " Paddy RIP", as well as a Tricolour which stated simply "Paddy" had also been placed on the wall.
People at the scene yesterday described hearing an extremely loud flash followed by a loud bang, the force of which set off intruder alarms in nearby homes.
A neighbour of the dead boy, who did not wish to be named, said he was a "quiet little fella" who was the youngest of four children.
"He liked fixing bikes and stuff, he was very mechanically minded."
His family were simply "devastated" by his death, he said.
"He was great, he was very funny and happy and friendly," said a girl, who said she was a friend of his.
"He was never one to start trouble, he loved motorbikes, scrambling and quad bikes. He was a very good little mechanic."
Another said: "I was standing in my porch when I saw this really bright flash and a bang. I think it hit an electricity box first . . . it must have went across to where he was. My brother ran across to where he was and they were banging on his chest to try to get him to come to."
An ESB spokesman said it had received no reports of any power outages from houses in the area, indicating that the electricity box was not hit by the lightning.
However, he said transformers elsewhere - in Rathcoole and Saggart - had been damaged by lightning strikes on Saturday, leading to temporary loss of electricity to some houses in the area.
Gerry Scully, a forecaster with Met Éireann, said the incident followed a pattern of extremely unstable atmospheric conditions in recent days, which was focused around the greater Dublin area on Saturday afternoon.
He said the country got "several of these episodes every year", but they did not, in his opinion, form part of a wider trend towards an increase in such events due to climate change.
"Thunderstorms can occur in the middle of the summer or in the depths of winter," he said.
John Keogh, manager at the City Wise education centre in Jobstown, Tallaght, which Patrick had attended, revealed that he was awarded a snooker cue last week for good attendance.
"Patrick was a great lad and hadn't missed a day since he started with us in September," Mr Keogh said.
"He was mischievous and had a mischievous smile, but was very popular with the staff because of his good sense of humour.
"He was there on Friday and was full of life. Everybody is shocked today. . . This is the last thing we expected."