A father has questioned the response time of the Coastguard helicopter during the inquest into the death of his son following an incident off the Clare coast.
In May, nine year old Limerick boy Aaron O'Flaherty plunged into the sea at Black Head near Fanore and he died in hospital four days later.
Aaron, from Castletroy, in Limerick went to Black Head with his father Patrick Hayes on the evening of May 4th last.
The pair were on a camping trip in Doolin, and Dublin Coronoer's Court heard that the nine year old wanted to see the lighthouse working.
The pair had been sitting on rocks, and his father said that when Aaron got up he stumbled toward the cliff edge and fell around 5 metres into the sea.
Along with a fisherman, Patrick Hayes tried in vain to rescue his son and as the swell was strong, he dialled 999 at 9:15 that night.
The Shannon Coastguard chopper took off at 9:33, and arrived 12 minutes later, locating the boy around 100m offshore.
Aaron was airlifted to hospital in Galway, and later taken to Temple Street Children's HOspital in Dublin where he died four days later.
Patrick Hayes questioned why it took so long to mobilise the chopper.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a verdict of death by misadventure and said he would write to the Coastguard to bring the query regarding response times to their attention.
