Over five years after the fatal Rescue 116 helicopter crash off the north Mayo coast, the inquest is due to resume into the deaths of the four Irish Coast Guard air crew.
Dates of June 1st to 3rd have been set by the North Mayo coroner Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald for the inquest which will be held in Belmullet civic centre.
Families of the four crew - Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, Capt Mark Duffy and winch crew Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith – are expected to attend or be represented at the three-day hearing.
The crash occurred in the early hours of March 14th, 2017 when the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter collided with Blackrock island, 13 km west of the Mullet peninsula, while approaching Blacksod lighthouse to refuel.
The Dublin-based crew had been asked to provide top cover for the Sligo-based Rescue 118 helicopter which had been tasked for a medical evacuation 141 nautical miles west of Eagle Island. The bodies of the two winch crew have not been found.
It is expected that CHC Ireland, employer of the four air crew, will be represented at the resumed inquest, along with officials from the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), the Garda and Irish Coast Guard.
The 350- page final report by AAIU identified "serious and important weaknesses" in management of risk mitigation by CHC Ireland, which holds the Irish Coast Guard search and rescue contract.
It also identified "confusion at State level" regarding responsibility for oversight of search and rescue operations in Ireland.
The AAIU report highlighted how the Irish Aviation Authority believed the Irish Coast Guard to be responsible for search and rescue oversight, when the Irish Coast Guard did not have this expertise.
The coroner’s office confirmed that the recent publication of the AAIU’s final report – delayed by a year due to a request by CHC Ireland for a review - had allowed the inquest to reconvene.
A preliminary inquest was held on April 12th, 2018 to issue death certificates for all four crew, and was then adjourned.
At the preliminary hearing, AAIU chief inspector Jurgen Whyte said that “everything that could be done was done” to find the two missing crew.
He said the search was “very challenging”, and the helicopter could not have come down in a more difficult location.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Katie Hannon show last year, Ms Fitzpatrick’s father John said the inquest into the deaths of the crew members would give “finality” and would “mean an awful lot” to the families.