Prosecution ruled out over blaze that killed 10

THE Republic’s public prosecutor has decided no case will be brought against a county council in connection with a fatal fire that claimed 10 lives three years ago.

Gardai investigated if there were any criminal health and safety breaches by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in relation to the place- ment of units at a temporary halting site at Glenamuck, Carrickmines, Co Dublin.

Central to the probe was how close together the units were.

Five adults and five children died following the fire at the halting site in the early hours of October 10, 2015.

It emerged last year that gardai had completed an investigation and sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is understood the DPP recently decided no charges are to be brought.

The council has declined to comment.

The decision means an inquest into the deaths can now resume, having been adjourned by coroner Dr Myra Cullinane.

The council is being represented by solicitor Michael Staines.

It has previously acknowledged units at the halting site were moved during upgrade works in March and April 2015, six months prior to the fire.

Relatives of those who died have said the new configuration left some units too close together.

The fire is believed to have started in one unit and quickly spread to another.

The fire victims were Thomas Connors (27), his wife Sylvia (30), and their children Jim (5), Christy (3) and six-month-old Mary; Willie Lynch (25), his partner Tara Gilbert (27), who was pregnant, and daughters Jodie (9) and Kelsey (4), and 39-yearold Jimmy Lynch, a brother of Willie.

The 10 victims were residents of the halting site.

They died due to carbon monoxide poisoning, the adjourned inquest previously heard.

Assistant chief fire officer with Dublin Fire Brigade Denis Keeley described the Carrickmines fire as “the extreme end of anything I’ve dealt with in the past”.