THE DEATH of an American woman on Skellig Michael, the second death in months of a visitor on the monastic rock, will be the catalyst for a “very fundamental review” of safety on the island, Dr Martin Mansergh, the Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, promised yesterday.
The review is likely to include a clampdown on ferrying visitors to the island outside the official season. “Rules have to be abided by, and lives come before livelihoods,” said the Minister.
However, he did not commit himself to safety rails and cautioned against “knee-jerk” reactions, saying the world heritage status of the site had to be considered and Unesco would have to be consulted.
The woman who died on Sunday has been named as Christine Spooner (57), a mother of two from Rochester, New York.
She fell over 30ft near the spot where Joseph Gaughan (77), from Wilkbar, Pennsylvania, died in early May, also in a 30ft fall.
In the mid-1990s a German tourist lost his life on the island.
Dr Mansergh was speaking in Killarney where he offered sympathy to Ms Spooner’s husband Richard, who was accompanying her on her visit to the 6th-century monastic site.
A multi-million euro tourist industry is built around the skellig, with an interpretative centre, ferry boats and accommodation and restaurants in south Kerry all benefiting hugely from the influx of visitors to the skellig.
The OPW has previously ruled out calls for safety ropes or rails as conservation officers have advised these would interfere with the integrity of the ancient site.
Dr Mansergh said the review would look at everything “without prejudice”, including looking at extra staffing needs and identify possible trouble spots.
He said Skellig Michael was an ancient site, regarded by many as one of the most spectacular sites in Ireland. The challenging and hazardous site would never be entirely safe to visit and “we have to be realistic about that”.
The Minister was due to meet with private ferry operators to the skellig on an issue of licensing. However, the meeting was cancelled by the boatmen as a mark of respect and because some of the boatmen were comforting Ms Spooner’s husband yesterday.
Dr Mansergh said yesterday boats should only ferry passengers to the island when guides were in situ. “The place is simply too dangerous” and the rules would have to be abided by. “Lives come before livelihoods.”
The advice of the south Kerry coroner to erect safety signs had been taken into account, and only three weeks ago a mock safety exercise under the auspices of the OPW had taken place on the skellig in response to Mr Gaughan’s death and the coroner’s warning.
Meanwhile, the daughter of Mr Gaughan, Rebecca Madden, told RTÉ’s Liveline programme yesterday the family were very distressed to hear of a second death on the rock.