‘Scouts should have carried out a review’
THE mother of a teenage girl who died after being swept into the sea during a scouting trip at Hook Head has criticised the failure of Scouting Ireland to conduct an internal review following the tragedy.
Fourteen-year-old Aoife Winterlich was on a weekend scout trip two years ago last Wednesday when she was knocked by a wave from rocks near Hook Head Lighthouse.
The teenager, from Walkinstown in Dublin, died five days later.
It emerged during her inquest that no review had been conducted by the scouting organisation after her death.
Her mother Anne Winterlich said she was at a loss to understand how an internal investigation had not been launched. She is now seeking assurances that steps will be taken to ensure a similar tragedy does not occur in future. The mother of four said she had lost ‘a loving, kind and talented daughter’.
‘I think in an organisation where they are taking care of children, a review should automatically have been done,’ she said.
Ms Winterlich, who is taking a fatal-injuries claim against Scouting Ireland, also raised questions over the level of training provided to scout leaders. ‘Children should always be supervised and kept safe during organised trips. We hope changes will be made to make sure this never happens again,’ she said.
The loss of Aoife was compounded by the death of her father Martin weeks later from cancer.
Aoife, who had only recently joined the scouts, was part of a group of 14 children who were accompanied by two scout leaders on a trip to Tramore in December 2015.
On the way back to Dublin, it was decided to visit Hook Head. She told the Irish Independent that the visit was not part of the original excursion plans, nor were parents notified about it prior to the outing. The tragedy unfolded during a 20-minute period.
During the inquest, it emerged the scout leaders were in a restaurant when several of the children went down from the lighthouse to the rocks. Four ended up being knocked into the water.