Two homeless men whose bodies were found in the Grand Canal in Dublin last year had entered the water at different times but the exact circumstances of their deaths remain unclear, an inquest has heard.
Donal Scanlon (49), who came originally from Ballybunion, Co Kerry, was found floating in the canal close to the Charlemont Luas stop at Grand Parade on the morning of July 6th, 2024.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Friday heard emergency services had been alerted to the scene shortly after 8am by a young woman out jogging.
The body of Alex Warnick (42), a US national who had been living in Ireland for several years, was found completely submerged in the water as rescue services were attempting to remove Mr Scanlon’s body from the canal.
The two men, who were close friends, had been sleeping in tents on the banks of the canal near to where their bodies were discovered – a short distance from Ranelagh Road bridge.
Postmortem reports concluded that both men had died from drowning.
In Mr Warnick’s case, the coroner, Clare Keane, noted there was evidence of acute alcohol and benzodiazepine intoxication.
Tests showed the deceased had consumed five times the legal driving limit for alcohol as well as a “toxic” level of a benzodiazepine as well as evidence of cocaine and methadone use.
While the coroner said such levels would not have been fatal on their own, she noted that they could make an individual unsteady on their feet as well as hindering someone trying to extricate themselves from the canal.
Dr Keane said “washerwoman changes” to Mr Warnick’s skin which were evidence of immersion in water were not present with Mr Scanlon which indicated he had not been in the water for as prolonged a period as his friend.
A postmortem showed that Mr Scanlon had consumed alcohol just above the drink driving limit and a benzodiazepine above a therapeutic level with some evidence of cocaine use.
The inquest heard evidence that there was only a short distance between the men’s tents and the canal as the tents occupied almost all of the canal bank on the Grand Parade side of the waterway.
Garda Brian Flannery said no eyewitnesses had been found who had seen either man entering the water, despite conducting interviews with around 20 people including residents of a nearby hotel.
However, he said gardaí were satisfied that there was no indication of any third-party involvement in the men’s deaths.
“Unfortunately, the only two people who know why they entered the water are no longer with us,” said Garda Flannery.
In a written statement, a homeless man, Gareth Kirwan, who described himself as Mr Warnick’s best friend, said he had last seen him on the afternoon before he died when he was “drunk and loud but not out of control.”
Another homeless man who was living in a tent with Mr Scanlon, Andrew Haire, gave evidence that there was “a lot of drink and drugs involved.”
Mr Haire, who described himself and Mr Scanlon as chronic alcoholics, outlined how all three men had consumed alcohol and drugs around Dublin city centre on the day before their bodies were discovered before returning to the canal where they had further drinks and drugs.
He claimed he was concerned about the quantity of tablets taken by Mr Scanlon because he had a heart condition, while he recalled that Mr Warnick had nearly fallen into the canal at one stage during the day.
Mr Haire said he was unaware of what happened to his friends, adding: “I was Xanax-ed out of my head.”
He made several critical comments about “non-nationals” who were occupying a number of tents located on the opposite canal bank on Charlemont Place for not responding to reports that there had been screaming in the middle of the night.
However, the inquest heard evidence from one foreign homeless male who said he heard some shouting at around 3.30am.
“The male never shouted for help. He was just shouting. I just thought he might have been a drunk person,” he told gardaí.
Mr Warnick’s father, Greg, who gave evidence via videolink from the US, said he had last spoken to his son about two weeks before his death.
Asked by the coroner, Clare Keane, if he had any concerns about his son, Mr Warnick replied: “There was always a concern for Alex as a parent as he had been homeless for a long time.”
However, he recalled that his son had sounded “upbeat on the surface” which he linked to his son having recently come into some inheritance which held out the promise that his life might change.
“That was encouraging,” remarked Mr Warnick.
He said he could not be sure if his son was a swimmer.
“I thought he was but I can’t say that with absolute certainty,” he said.
Mr Warnick expressed surprise that one of the two men could not get out of the water and wondered if the canal was “a death trap.”
A sister of the other deceased, Sarah Scanlon, said she had last seen her brother, Donal, in August 2023 at their father’s funeral.
She told the inquest that her brother had been travelling up and down to Dublin in the years prior to his death.
Ms Scanlon described him as “a kind-hearted person”.
She said: “He is missed especially by us, his family, and everyone who knew him.”
The witness told the coroner that she did not believe Mr Scanlon could swim.
A young trainee accountant, Adam Dolan, told the hearing that he had got talking to Mr Warnick at the St Stephen’s Green Luas stop at St Stephen’s Green on the night of July 4th, 2024 when the deceased told him that he had been kicked out of hostel because they did not want people wearing shorts.
Mr Dolan recalled that the man who looked homeless was friendly, spoke with an American accent and was wearing shorts.
The witness said it seemed that the male seemed down about his life and how it had turned out but said he did not drink or do drugs.
He offered Mr Warnick some food for which he was grateful and they both got off the tram at the Harcourt stop and shook hands.
After he realised that the man was living in a tent next to the Grand Canal, Mr Dolan said he went home and returned with a blanket for Mr Warnick and they talked for another 15 minutes.
“He had a hard life and was down on his luck,” Mr Dolan recalled.
Noting that he realised at news of the drownings that one of them was Mr Warnick, he described the deceased as a nice and interesting person to talk to and someone he had not felt threatened by.
Returning an open verdict in the case of both deaths, Dr Keane observed: “We simply do not know the full circumstances of how they entered the water at two different times.”
The coroner offered her condolences to relatives of the two deceased friends on their “very tragic deaths.”
Following the discovery of their bodies last year, Waterways Ireland strongly advised people against sleeping on canal banks for health and safety reasons.
