A CORONER is to seek that statutory regulations are brought to govern the operation of sports diving and diving centres, following the death of a 25-year-old English school teacher while diving off the Dingle peninsula.
Heather Jane Schofield, of Whalley Road, Hurst Green, Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, who was single and a teacher of geography, died while scuba diving off Dingle on 12 April 2004, just five days short of her 26th birthday.
An only child and a qualified diver with some 15 months diving experience, she had been on holiday with her mother in Dingle and had arranged a dive with the Dingle Marina Dive Centre.
Myra (Schofield) Parker told an inquest in Tralee on Monday that she had been on the pier and had accompanied her daughter to the centre. Her daughter had been extremely healthy, was a tennis player and a member of a diving club. She swam each day and spent a lot of her salary on the best and most up-to-date diving equipment.
At the outset the inquest heard no criminal prosecution is to be brought. It was also stressed that coroners courts are to seek to find out how, where and when of death and not exonerate or lay blame.
Gardaí apologised to the family that it took two years for the inquest to be held and Inspector Martin McCarthy said a thorough investigation had been carried out.
Coroner Helen Lucey said she particularly noted during the course of the evidence which took some five hours that sports diving was not governed by statutory regulations. The Health and Safety Authority was not involved because the death was not work related, the inquest heard.
It also heard most dive centres, including that in Dingle in 2004, were affiliated to PADI, the professional association for diving instructors, whose excellence was recognised worldwide. However this was a self-regulatory body and there were no statutory governing bodies for dive centres in Ireland. This was unlike the UK where sports diving was governed by the Health and Safety Executive.
The jury returned a verdict of death from misadventure. Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster gave the medical cause of death as acute cardio-respiratory failure of organs due to drowning whilst diving.
The jury also returned a rider to the verdict, recommending the Department of the Marine ensured there be better communication between persons diving and the control boat.
After the inquest the woman’s mother said she could not thank gardaí and the authorities enough for their efforts on her behalf. Her daughter had been heavily involved in charity and in the tennis world and had worked at Wimbledon helping out in the press office.
“She was a pride and a joy. Something any parent would be proud of,” Ms Parker said.
