An inquest into the deaths of a woman and three children in a fire in Clondalkin in west Dublin last year has been told that the blaze was an accident, probably caused by a tea light or candle setting fire to a large TV screen.
Annemarie O'Brien, 27, who was eight months' pregnant, her two-year-old daughter Paris and her cousins; four-year-old Jordan McGinn and 22-month-old Holly O’Brien, died from smoke inhalation following a fire in supported accommodation on 8 March 2017.
Ms O'Brien's sister Biddy was also in the apartment at the time, but survived the fire.
Forensic expert Paul Collins told Dublin Coroner's Court that he discovered a number of tea lights in the debris of the fire.
He said he believed hot gasses from the tea light rose up and set fire to the television.
Mr Collins also gave evidence that two of the three fire alarms in the apartment had been disabled.
He said the devices had been totally dismantled with the batteries removed.
Biddy O'Brien, the sole survivor of the blaze and mother of two of the children, told the court that there were no tea lights lighting on the night of the blaze.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinan returned a verdict of accidental death in all four of the deaths and in the case of the unborn baby who, she told the court, had been named AJ.
Dr Cullinan said the very fact that there were so many verdicts, including tiny babies, was moving and she offered her deepest condolences to the family for what she described as their tragic loss.
Earlier in evidence, Biddy O’Brien said that she and her children stayed at the apartment that night after being given permission by members of Sonas staff to enter the apartment when her sister was on the way back from the city centre where she was shopping.
Ms O’Brien said she cleaned the place, lit a fire to burn rubbish, bathed the children and made them bowls of porridge before her sister and her child returned home.
She said the three children were playing on tablets and a phone before they went to bed around 9pm, while Ms O’Brien and her sister drank a box of Budweiser between them and listened to music.
Evidence from two other residents of the refuge was also given to the court.
One woman, who lived in an apartment above Annemarie O’Brien, said she could hear music and singing coming from the apartment on the night of the fire.
She said she and her son were both woken by the sound of the fire alarm at around 2.30am and assumed it was a false alarm until she saw smoke in the hallway.
She said she alerted another neighbour and they both banged on the door of Annmarie’s apartment before getting their children and leaving the building as firefighters and gardaí arrived.
A second woman, who lived in the apartment below, said on one occasion she assisted Annmarie O’Brien to "fiddle with" one of the alarms in her apartments a few weeks before the fatal fire when it had gone off while cooking.
She said they did not remove batteries, but did unscrew the device and it eventually stopped sounding.
Firefighter Keith Conroy of Dublin Fire Brigade described how when he entered the apartment, he saw a child either sitting or standing on the back of a couch.
He said that when he picked the child up and removed them from the building, he could hear breathing.
Garda David Sheffield of Clondalkin Garda Station told the court that when he was at the scene, he saw members of the Fire Brigade removing children from the scene who were covered in soot and appeared lifeless.
He said he also saw two women covered in soot being removed from the building.
