Grand Canal deaths: Victims named, foul play not suspected ahead of postmortem results

Gardaí investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found in the Grand Canal near Dublin city centre on Saturday do not suspect foul play “at this time”.

The men have been named as Donal Scanlon (49), from Ballybunion in Co Kerry, and Alex Warnick (42), who was originally from the United States.

Emergency services responded to reports of a body in the canal at 8.15am on Saturday. Two bodies were recovered a short time later, and both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

The two men were friends and had been sleeping in two tents close to where their bodies were recovered from the canal.

“At this time there’s nothing emerging that suggests it’s anything other than a tragic accident,” said a source.

The main line of investigation is one of the men fell into the canal in the dark early on Saturday morning and was unable to get out. The other man may have entered the water to assist but then got into difficulty.

No wounds had been found on the remains to suggest foul play, a source said.

However, investigators are still awaiting the results of a postmortem. Gardaí have said its outcome will dictate the course of the investigation

Both men were known to homeless services. It is understood Mr Scanlon travelled up and down to Dublin from his native Kerry from time to time. Mr Warnick had been living in Ireland for some time.

Locals in Ballybunion said Mr Scanlon had left the town about 20 years earlier to work in Dublin. He was a regular visitor to the seaside north Kerry town to visit his father, who passed away recently, and other family.

In 2016 a search took place for Mr Scanlon’s 54-year-old uncle William Mulvihill who was last seen at a roundabout near Tralee after attending the Rose of Tralee festival. Despite ongoing appeals, including a renewed appeal last August on the anniversary of his disappearance, he has never been located.

Focus Ireland confirmed both men who died were customers at the Focus Ireland Coffee Shop. Donal Scanlon was particularly well known to staff. Focus Ireland extended its condolences to the families and friends of both men.

Director of Advocacy Mike Allen said having any person forced to live in tents on our streets was “both morally unacceptable and, with more effective policies, entirely avoidable”.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is working with gardaí to establish the circumstances surrounding the men’s deaths. The executive confirmed on Sunday the two men had engaged with its services.

The executive said there was sufficient emergency accommodation in Dublin at present and it encouraged anyone in need of accommodation to contact their local authority.

Keira Gill, director of the homeless outreach service A Lending Hand, said Government services dealing with those sleeping rough needed to “work together” to address the “worsening situation of people living in tents”.

“The services dealing with homeless charities and organisations are doing their best but they do not have enough financial resources when you see that thousands of people are now looking for help,” she said.

She said the vast majority of those who sleep rough were doing so because they “do not feel safe in homeless hostels”.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik, a local TD in Dublin Bay South, said her “thoughts and sympathies” were with all those affected by the tragedy.