A schoolboy died after being crushed in a quad bike incident, an inquest heard today.
Finn McGrath, from Dunaree, Ireland, suffered fatal injuries during an incident on a farm involving a quad bike in August last year.
The young boy tragically died days later at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin where he had been transported by air ambulance.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court for the opening of the inquest into Finn’s death heard the schoolboy had been brought to the hospital following the incident which had occurred on August 3.
His parents, Paul and Caroline McGrath, did not attend the hearing, but in a written statement, Finn’s mother described how she had formally identified her son’s boy to authorities in the Temple Steet hospital.
At a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court today, Inspector Colm McNally applied for a six-month adjournment.
He sought this on the basis that a Garda file on the investigation is due to be submitted to the DPP within the next four weeks.
Coroner Clare Keane informed the inquest that a post-mortem had shown that Finn had died from a lack of oxygen to the brain from a prolonged cardiac arrest due to a crush injury.
Finn McGrath, from Dunaree, Ireland, suffered fatal injuries during an incident on a farm involving a quad bike in August last year
She adjourned the inquest until April 16, 2026 for further mention.
Inspector McNally confirmed that the deceased’s family were aware of the application for an adjournment but had not attended the hearing as they were ‘still very emotional about the incident, as you can imagine’.
Finn, who was a pupil at Lisdoonan National School in Lisdoonan, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, is survived by his parents and two siblings.
He was predeceased by an infant brother, Kenan.
His funeral took place on August 8, 2024, at St Mary’s Church in Lisdoonan, where Finn’s granduncle, Jim Campbell, described the incident as a ‘horrible, horrible accident’.
Campbell described Finn as a ‘lovely little fella’, and a statuette of a mother and son and a photograph of Finn and his family were brought to the funeral altar, along with vice grips, symbolising his love for mechanics.
Members of Finn’s family brought items symbolising his passions and interests to the altar, representing his ‘great variety and love of life’.
A poem written from Finn’s perspective, read to the congregation at the end of the mass by a mourner, spoke of how he lived a life ‘filled with fun and adventure’, with parents who loved him ‘with everything they had’.
‘My great big brother, Jack, my wish was to be just like you. My sister Ella-Rose to argue with mixed in with kisses and cuddles too.’
Mourners were told how Finn was a ‘busy little man’ in so many ways who lived a ‘wonderful full life’.
