AER Lingus will be sentenced next month for breaches of health and safety law in connection with the death of a driver at Dublin Airport over two years ago.
John Murray, from Skerries, Co Dublin, fell from a loading bay at a cargo warehouse at Dublin Airport and suffered fatal head injuries.
Today, Laurence Gourley, a representative for the company, pleaded guilty on its behalf that it failed to manage and conduct its undertaking in such a way as to ensure, that individuals who were not its employees were not exposed to risks to their safety, health or welfare.
The charge specifies that at or near Gate 7 at the Aer Lingus Cargo Warehouse on November 5, 2014, there was a failure to ensure that adequate measures were in place to protect people from the risk of a fall from height and that there was a failure to implement its written procedures dealing with driver access to loading bays.
The offence states that Aer Lingus “regularly permitted or required drivers to access and egress the building via the loading bay itself”.
The court heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted the plea on the condition that “full facts” will be heard at the sentence hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on March 20 next.
A victim impact report was ordered for that date.
REPORT: Sonya McLean