The Kerry coroner has issued a warning that all garages should be fitted with carbon monoxide alarms.
Aisling Quilter was speaking at the inquest into the death of Brendan Conway, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his vintage Ford Escort.
Mr Conway, aged 66, of Faha East, Killarney, died on 5 September 2023.
His wife, Mary Conway, gave evidence that they had been married for 42 years and that he had a lifelong interest in cars, particularly vintage models.
On the day of his death, Mrs Conway returned home from golf to find her husband missing.
She went to the garage, where he often worked on his cars.
The garage door was wide open.
Inside, she discovered Mr Conway lying unresponsive in the inspection pit.
Mrs Conway raised the alarm; a defibrillator was brought from Faha National School, and first responders arrived shortly afterwards, followed by the ambulance service, fire service and air ambulance.
Ursula Fitzgerald, the first responder to arrive, came within five minutes, and went into the pit.
She gave evidence that there was a strong smell of petrol and that within 30 seconds of entering, she began to feel faint.
Fire officer Martin Grady stated that Mr Conway appeared to have caught his leg on the bottom rung of the ladder while climbing out of the pit, causing him to fall backwards and sustain abrasions to his knuckles and behind his ear.
CPR was performed for 30 minutes before Mr Conway was pronounced dead.
A toxicology report by revealed extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in Mr Conway’s body at the time of his death.
Coroner Quilter returned a verdict of accidental death due to acute respiratory distress syndrome, with associated diffuse alveolar haemorrhage.
She noted that Mr Conway had taken several safety precautions; the large garage door had been left open, the car engine was off, and petrol had been removed and stored in a drum.
Ms Quilter strongly recommended that all garages be fitted with carbon monoxide alarms to help prevent similar tragedies.
