Family of tragic Ruth Maguire appeal for handrail at pier in Carlingford

The family of Ruth Maguire, the mum of three who drowned while on a hen weekend in Carlingford, has appealed at her inquest for a handrail to be installed along the pier in the village.

Her mother also told the hearing that her daughter only knew three women in the hen party and claimed that she would still be alive if she had been with her friends when she left a local licenced premises.

Ruth Maguire had travelled from Belfast to Carlingford with 30 women on March 16th last and the group had gone out for a meal before going to a local bar.

Head of security there that night said in a deposition that as some members of the hen party had been involved in a number of incidents, the group had been asked to leave and Ruth Maguire had asked if she could go out a second door.

He said the 30-year-old kept talking about going home to Newcastle, County Down.

Two of Ruth’s friends had gone back to look for her when they reached their B&B and noticed she wasn’t there, but couldn't find her and the alarm was raised the next day - St. Patrick's Day when they woke up and discovered she had not returned.

Her body – lying face down was located on the 18th of March by members of the Newcastle RNLI at Blockhouse Island and was brought to the coastguard station at Greenore, where death was formally pronounced at 2pm. The hearing was told Ruth Maguire’s cause of death was drowning.

Gardai were unable to say where she entered the water, but they were able to identify the door of a cottage at The Liberties, Carlingford from a photo she had posted on Instagram shortly after midnight and her fiance James Griffin’s work phone – which had been turned off, had received two missed calls from her at 12.06am.

They were discovered two weeks later when he turned the phone back on.

The tide was on the turn and on its way in at the time but there was no CCTV footage covering the area and toxicology tests showed she had not been drinking up to the point that she died.

Several family members expressed concern about how open the pier is and they had since heard of at least one case where a member of a stag party had ended up in the water but had managed to get to safety

Her mother Geraldine Worthington said the pier was "totally unsafe" due to a massive drop. She said money is made in Carlingford from people coming from all over the country and drinking far more than they should be.

She also highlighted how the ground is uneven there and people can trip and called for a simple handrail 'that someone can reach for if they trip" and added "I know it costs money and everything is about money but life is more important than money".

Ruth's sister Rachel Wilkinson pointed out how there's no CCTV in the area and called for better public lighting saying it's very exposed.

Louth County Coroner Ronan Maguire in returning an open verdict said he would contact Louth County Council and ask the local authority to examine the possibility of putting in a handrail along the pier and noted that the mum of three had been trying to stay away from any confrontation.