Tragic Loss and Survival
A decade ago, Louise James returned from a hen weekend with an ominous feeling that a tragedy was imminent. Upon arriving home, she learned that nearly her entire family had drowned when their car slid off a pier after a day spent at the seaside.
The victims included her partner Sean McGrotty, 49, their two sons Mark, aged 12, and Evan, aged eight, as well as her mother Ruth, 57, and her sister Jodie, 14. The sole survivor was Louise and Sean's four-month-old daughter, Rioghnach, who was passed out of the submerged vehicle to a former footballer who swam out to rescue her.
Remembering and Moving Forward
Louise expressed a desire for the 10th anniversary of the tragedy to be a celebration of the lives lost. She shared that she thinks about her family and cherishes the happy memories every day. She emphasized her commitment to living for her daughter Rioghnach's happiness.
"She's such a social butterfly," she said.
"I've always said she can't live in the shadows of her brothers or the shadow of what happened.
We need to move forward and she needs to live – to live life.
She's everything to me and her brothers were everything to me as well.
I love her just as much as I loved them."
Details of the Incident
On 20 March 2016, the family spent the day in Buncrana, County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, a town about 30 minutes from the Irish border. Buncrana is a popular destination for visitors from northwest Northern Ireland, and the family had traveled from their home in Londonderry.
That evening, their Audi Q7 slid down the slipway of a pier and into Lough Swilly. Despite desperate rescue attempts, only Rioghnach survived; the others drowned after the vehicle entered the water.
Louise had been in Liverpool on a hen weekend and received a call upon her return to Belfast informing her of the incident.
"I went to the baggage area and Joshua, my brother, had rang me and he told me that they had gone," she recalled.
"I didn't want to come home. I just wanted to end my life there and then. But he said to me to promise him that I would meet him in Letterkenny hospital because Rioghnach was fine.
We didn't know that she was fine then but we knew she was in the hospital."
Coping with Grief
Louise described the ongoing presence of the tragedy in her life as she copes with the devastating loss.
"From that time I always said it was mind over matter," Louise said.
"I remember my doctor trying to give me anti-depressants and it was no, definitely not.
I don't take anything. I need to feel everything that's going on and I think that's a determination of getting through everything."
She admitted uncertainty about how she managed to endure the scale of the loss.
"I don't know. I tried to ask myself that too," she said.
"You get up in morning and you put your feet on the ground and that's another day."
Investigation and Inquest Findings
An inquest held at the end of 2017 concluded that the family drowned due to misadventure. A Garda (Irish police officer) testified that the slipway was "extremely slippery with thick algae." Louise expressed frustration over the lack of maintenance.
"I'm angry because the slipway wasn't cleaned," Louise said.
"It should have been cleaned. If it had been cleaned then this wouldn't have happened.
It's full of algae and precautions should have been put in place for every slipway to be cleaned.
There's no individual that's responsible for this.
If the council had cleaned it then it would have been prevented."
Donegal County Council referred inquiries to the Donegal Coroner's office. At the time, the council stated that once the facts were established, they would review the situation and determine if any specific measures were necessary.
The inquest also revealed that Sean McGrotty had a blood alcohol level of 159mg, exceeding the Republic of Ireland's legal drink-driving limit of 50mg. However, a pathologist testified that it was not possible to determine the level of impairment associated with that blood alcohol concentration.
The jury recommended that Irish Water Safety take a leading role alongside other agencies to implement best practices regarding safety at piers and slipways.
Recognition and Memorial
Davitt Walsh, the former footballer who rescued Rioghnach by swimming out to the submerged vehicle, was later awarded the Michael Heffernan Gold Medal for Marine Gallantry. Louise expressed deep gratitude to him and to the emergency services for their efforts on the day of the tragedy.
A special 5K memorial walk is scheduled for 11:00 local time on Sunday in Buncrana to honor the lives lost. Louise encouraged participants to wear red and white if possible.
"Hopefully it'll be beautiful and we'll be relying on them to sort out the weather," she said.
"Every memory I have is happy. Every picture I have they are smiling.
They're carrying on. They loved life.
They loved each other and that's what it's about. It's about loving life and living it."
