The inquest into the death of a press photographer who died in a road collision this summer has been postponed for 12 months due to a “large backlog” of forensic collision cases.
Mick O’Neill was killed after his motorcycle collided with a tractor-trailer on the Old Airport Road near Dublin Airport on July 12th of this year. No other injuries were reported.
A brief preliminary hearing at Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard on Wednesday that a postmortem examination noted the cause of death as being multiple traumatic injuries.
Inspector John McGonagle applied for a 12-month adjournment as a report by Garda forensic collision investigators has not yet been compiled.
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“There’s quite a large backlog, unfortunately, so that’s the reason for the 12-month adjournment,” he said.
Asked by coroner Dr Clare Keane if there might be an update within the next six months (the length of time commonly requested by gardaí at the coroner’s court), the inspector said the current backlog is 10 months.
Dr Keane granted the adjournment until October 2026, saying an earlier date can be taken up if a report is available before then.
“I know that may be a difficult length of time, but it’s probably realistic, based on what the inspector is telling us,” she told family members present.
His son, Karl O’Neill, gave evidence that he identified the body of his father at the Mater hospital in a private room of the hospital’s emergency department.
The 62-year-old from Swords, Co Dublin, was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken by ambulance to the Mater hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Mr O’Neill was an award-winning press photographer who worked mainly for the Irish Star and Irish Daily Mirror.
He was the winner of the Press Photographers Association News Picture of the Year award in 2021 and won the Sports Picture of the Year in 2006.
