A YOUNG BOY who died from a drowning incident at a swimming pool in a hotel in Offaly three years ago had removed his armbands shortly after getting into the water, an inquest has heard.

A verdict of death by misadventure was returned into how Oliver Forde sustained fatal injuries after getting into difficulty in the pool at the Tullamore Court Hotel in Tullamore, Co Offaly on 29 May 2022.

Oliver (6), a pupil at Harold’s Cross National School from Innismore, Crumlin, Dublin died on 31 May 2022 at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin where he had been transferred two days earlier from the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore.

At a hearing in Dublin District Coroner’s Court today, the deceased’s mother, Nina Mahon, wept openly at evidence that her son had provided life to four other patients as a result of the decision to donate his heart, liver and kidneys.

The inquest also heard evidence that no hotel staff or anyone in the pool had seen the boy get into difficulty.

In a written statement, Oliver’s father, Denis Forde, described how he had seen his son take off his armbands in the pool when he and his three children had gone swimming in the hotel after returning from a day out.

Mr Forde, who did not attend the inquest, said he walked around the pool and into the changing areas after he had looked around at one stage and could not see his son.

“I only took my eyes off Oliver for a second,” he recalled.

When he returned to the pool area, Mr Forde said he immediately jumped into the water when he saw his son at the bottom of the pool.

He recalled that his older son, Jack, who was eight at the time, thought his younger brother was “only joking.”

The boy also told his father that he believed Oliver was trying to copy him by taking off his armbands.

Mr Forde said he regularly took his sons away for weekends after he had separated from their mother in June 2020 and they had stayed at the Tullamore Court Hotel on a number of occasions.

He recalled that they visited the hotel’s swimming pool after breakfast on 29 May 2022 before going into Athlone for the day.

Mr Forde said his sons wanted to go swimming again after they returned to the hotel that evening.

He recalled that both Oliver and his younger son, Lucas, who was aged three at the time, were both wearing armbands when they got into the pool which had a standard depth of 1.3 metres with no shallow or deep end.

A lifeguard on duty at the time, Adrian Carroll, gave evidence that he was near the reception area of the hotel’s leisure centre when he became aware of the incident at around 6.40pm.

Mr Carroll said he helped Mr Forde get the boy out of the pool and began to provide CPR to the victim before paramedics arrived on the scene.

He told the coroner, Clare Keane, that it was the hotel’s policy that two people, including one lifeguard, were on duty at all times at the leisure centre.

Mr Carroll explained that during non-busy periods, the person in reception took over responsibility for monitoring the pool if he was performing another task away from the pool area or on a break.

The inquest heard that a person in the reception area had a view of the entire swimming pool through a glass window.

Another employee who was working on reception at the leisure centre, Mandy Kelly, said she had seen Mr Forde’s children jumping into the pool which she felt was dangerous.

However, Ms Kelly said she had spoken to Mr Forde and he had got his sons to stop.

The witness said she was in the reception area and conducting a test on the pool water when she noticed Mr Forde looking for something and asked Mr Carroll to check what was going on.

She then heard a shout and dialled 999 after realising what was happening.

In reply to questions from Dr Keane, Ms Kelly confirmed she was not a qualified lifeguard at the time.

She acknowledged she had responsibility for monitoring the pool at the time of the incident as Mr Carroll was away from the pool area.

Ms Kelly said it was acceptable for staff members to be doing “two things at the same time.”

She recalled seeing two boys, including one with armbands, standing at the far end of the pool and assumed their father was in the water.

Ms Kelly said she had also seen Oliver “swimming up and down from one end to the other” before going back to reception.

Cross-examined by David O’Dowd, a solicitor for Ms Mahon, Ms Kelly accepted she would not be observing the pool area if she was checking someone in at reception.

A consultant in emergency medicine, Seán O’Rourke, who was alerted to the incident said he found the boy in cardiac arrest at the side of the pool.

Dr O’Rourke said there was no evidence of any heart activity and the boy’s heartbeat was only restored at 7.25pm while he was in hospital in Tullamore.

The hotel’s general manager, Philip O’Brien, gave evidence that the hotel had a policy that a minimum of one lifeguard was on duty at all times that the pool was open.

Mr O’Brien told the inquest that several changes had been made following Oliver’s tragic death, including more stringent rules relating to children accompanied by adults.

He explained that previously, a maximum of two children under 8 years were allowed with each adult, but the current rule was a maximum of two children of any age.

Cross-examined by Mr O’Dowd, the hotel manager said it had no specific policy about a staff member monitoring the pool also performing other tasks at the same time while a lifeguard was away from the pool area.

An inspector with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), Aidan Kelly, said the DPP had directed that no criminal prosecution should arise out of the case.

Mr Kelly said the HSA had conducted an inquiry as legislation also placed a duty on employers to persons other than their employees as well as a duty to carry out risk assessments.

Counsel for the hotel, Ronan Kennedy SC, who had offered condolences to Oliver’s family at the start of the inquest, pointed out that there is no legislation requiring the operators of swimming pools to have a lifeguard on duty.

The inquest heard most operated guidelines issued jointly by Water Safety Ireland, Swim Ireland and Ireland Active.

The results of a postmortem showed that Oliver died from injuries caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain which were consistent with “prolonged immersion in water.”

Ms Mahon, who has previously expressed dismay about delays in finding out how her son had died, told the hearing that she had never known before the inquest what had happened to Oliver or received an apology. 

Fighting back tears, she remarked: “I will never ever get over the loss of my son but will have to try for my other boys. This day has really helped.”

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, the coroner noted that there was a risk factor in the deceased not wearing armbands.

Dr Keane said the case highlighted how such tragedies could occur “in the blink of an eye” in water.