My husband’s storm death was entirely preventable, says his widow
‘Utter confusion around staff’ ‘I had this sick feeling, I just knew’
THE widow of a young father who died while driving home during Storm Ophelia has said that only emergency workers should have been asked to work on that day.
Fintan Goss, 33, died only three weeks after becoming a father for the second time when a tree fell on his car while he was driving from his financial job in Dundalk to his home outside the town. He was only five minutes from home when the accident happened.
Two other people also died that day after being struck by trees. While the Government announced the night before the storm that schools and most government offices would be shut, its National Emergency Coordination Group on Severe Weather issued no specific information on private sector workers.
Instead, it said ‘all unnecessary travel should be avoided’ and warned people not to travel during the height of the storm ‘unless absolutely necessary’.
Fintan’s widow Pamela has now called for unambiguous guidelines to be brought in, so that workers will know whether or not they should stay home the next time there is a status red alert.
She has written to the Oireachtas members in Co Louth, saying that a set of clear rules would ‘remove the confusion for employers about whether staff need to come into work or go home from work at the height of the storm’.
Pamela explained: ‘There was a blanket closure on all of the schools, so that nobody was in danger and nobody had to travel.
‘But there was utter confusion and ambiguity around staff, who should go and who should not.
‘I think there should be a set of guidelines to be implemented automatically if there is a red warning status across the country, (for both) private (and) public sectors and we only have the roads open for the paramedics, the fire services and whatever else needs to be there. Other industries are not life and death.’
Pamela has not spoken to the families of the other two victims of the storm but said: ‘I am frustrated that something like this could happen in Ireland in this day and age.’
Fintan texted her when he was leaving work at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group in Dundalk.
When he was not home 15 minutes later, she knew that something bad had happened.
Pamela didn’t want to ring him in case he was driving.
As she waited, she saw on Facebook that there was a tree down and access was closed to the Newry Road at Ravensdale.
Pamela recalled: ‘I had this sick feeling. I just knew.
‘I rang him and his phone was off. It is never off; it always goes to the message minder or else he’d have it on silent for work and it wouldn’t answer, so I just knew.’ A tree had fallen onto the back of Fintan’s car, killing him.
However, Fintan could not be officially declared dead until a doctor could safely access his car.
The tree had to be cut away and Fintan’s family knew he had died before gardaí were in a position to formally tell them.
Pamela said: ‘I was getting text messages of condolences before I had even heard officially.’
The previous evening, the couple got a text message to say their three-year-old daughter Laragh’s play school was closed because of the storm.
‘I said to him, “Is there any way that you won’t have to go to work tomorrow?” heard anything, He replied, so I assume “I haven’t I go in.”’
Pamela was asleep when he left for work. Fintan worked in finance and Pamela said: ‘At 11am, I was on the phone to him and I was getting really uneasy. I had the live broadcast on RTÉ on the TV all day and people were told not to travel and to stay at home, so I was getting really on edge.
‘He said, “Pam, I don’t want to be here. What we are told is to get the work done and then go.”’
Fintan’s brother Colin said: ‘Certain departments were sent home at 10am. For me, once a red alert is issued, all roads should be closed, except to emergency staff. It wouldn’t take much to put that in place and it would take out all ambiguity, as Pam says.
‘It wouldn’t leave any decisions up to the private person, selfemployed people or businesses, the decision would be made for them. If no one had been on the roads, those three people (who were killed) would be alive.’
Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick, who received Pamela’s email, raised the matter directly with the Taoiseach in the Dáil on Wednesday.
The Fine Gael backbencher said: ‘There was widespread confusion before, during and after Storm Ophelia as to the position regarding private sector employers and other parts of the public sector.’
Mr Varadkar told the Dáil that he has commissioned a report to look into the response to Storm Ophelia including to examine what measures should be taken during a weather red alert.
The report is to be submitted to Cabinet in January 2018.
He said: ‘Although I believe that, in the round, people accept that the storm was well managed, there are always lessons that can be learned.
‘One of the issues it will examine is how we can better define what public safety warnings mean. It is acknowledged that there is a very clear mechanism in place for closing schools and public offices.
‘There was, however, confusion regarding what private sector businesses and self-employed persons should do. We acknowledge that there is a shortcoming in this area, from which we intend to learn.’
Pamela said that while she welcome the fact that a report is being prepared, she hopes that it will result in real changes.
‘That is fine, reports can be written – I am sure there are libraries full of them – but they have to be implemented and acted on because storms and climate change are going in that direction and there is going to be another one and possibly a worse one.’
She expressed the wish that Fintan ‘should be the last person to die in such circumstances’.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group was asked if it wished to comment but it did not do so.
The Department of Housing, which oversaw the emergency plan for Ophelia, said it ‘extends its condolences to the families and friends of the three people who lost their lives.
‘The response to Storm Ophelia is currently being reviewed. A report will be prepared, which will be submitted to the Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning for its attention before being submitted for the approval of Government in January 2018.’