‘A terrible, terrible tragedy’ - Minister expresses his condolences to families of competitors who died at Ironman event

FINANCE MINISTER Michael McGrath has expressed his condolences to the families of the two competitors who died taking part in the Ironman event in Youghal on Sunday and said it is important that the “full facts” of what happened are ascertained.

Mr McGrath made the comments while speaking to reporters in Cork on Monday.

“It’s a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the families of the two persons who tragically lost their life in Youghal yesterday [on Sunday],” he said, reflecting on the double tragedy at the sporting event.

“I know that Ironman Ireland will, of course, be carrying out their own investigation to establish the full circumstances of what happened and of course the postmortems will take place today [Monday] and that will feed into the coroner’s court hearing eventually into this but it’s a terrible, terrible tragedy.

“It’s clear that the conditions were particularly challenging in the water from reading the testimony from many of the other participants but it’s just a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the families.” 

The two men died in separate incidents on Sunday morning during the swim portion of the popular event.

They were later named locally as Ivan Chittenden from Toronto and Brendan Wall, who is originally from Co Meath but was living in Solihull in the UK.

Postmortems were due to be carried out on Monday.

Gardaí confirmed on Sunday that one of the deceased was in his 60s while the other was in his 40s.

Speaking in Cork on Monday, Mr McGrath said it is important that any questions following the two fatalities are “comprehensively answered”.

“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families who must be in a terrible state of shock and in mourning at this time.

“But, of course, when two people lose their life in circumstances such as this, it is important that the full facts of what happened are established and that any questions that are being asked are comprehensively answered, so I have no doubt the organisers of the event will conduct a comprehensive investigation into what happened.

“Cork County Council is a lead sponsor of the event and I have no doubt that they will want a full account of what happened as well and it may well be the case that Water Safety Ireland will also be asking questions and wish to fully understand the facts and the circumstances of what happened,” he said.

In a statement on Sunday confirming the deaths of the two participants, Ironman Ireland expressed their sympathies to the families of the men who died.

“During the swim portion of Sunday’s race, safety personnel provided immediate medical attention upon recognising the athletes were in need of assistance.

“We share our greatest sympathies with the families and friends of the athletes and will continue to offer them our support as they go through this very difficult time,” the statement said.

“We thank the safety personnel and first responders who worked quickly to provide the athletes with medical assistance.”