WATERWAYS IRELAND FACES criminal proceedings after a homeless Eritrean man was paralysed when a mechanical digger cleared his tent from the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin.

Elias Adane, who is in his 30s, suffered life-changing injuries on 14 January 2020, along a portion of the canal where other homeless people had pitched tents and had been served with eviction notices.

Adane, who came to Ireland as an unaccompanied minor and has experienced lengthy periods of homelessness, had been sleeping in a tent at Wilton Terrace near Leeson Street Bridge for months.

After being injured, he spent weeks in St Vincent’s Hospital before moving to the National Rehabilitation Hospital until new accommodation was arranged.

Following a Health and Safety Authority investigation, a file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecution, who authorised charges against Waterways Ireland and an employee, Jennifer Blackford, of Oldcourt Lawn, Firhouse, Dublin 24.

The offences are under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and included allegations of failures to check if Mr Adane’s tent was occupied when it was removed “by means of a mechanical grab”.

The prosecution had its first listing before Judge Anthony Halpin at Dublin District Court today.

He acceded to a State solicitor’s request that the proceedings continue tomorrow when evidence is to be served on the defendants.

There are two charges involving alleged offences on 14 January at the canal bank at Leeson Street Bridge, Dublin 2.

The first claims it failed to ensure that “people were not exposed to risks to their safety, health or welfare” or that “there was an adequate system of work in place in respect of lifting a tent by means of a mechanical grab which included ensuring that the tent was unoccupied prior to removal.”

The second charge claims Elias Adane suffered personal injury due to those failures.

Blackford faces a single charge that she failed to discharge a duty under the health and safety laws.

The charge alleges she did not “take reasonable care to protect the safety, health and welfare of persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions at work, in particular by giving instructions for the lifting of a tent by means of a mechanical grab without ensuring that the tent was unoccupied.”

Waterways Ireland is based at Sligo Road, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, The all-Ireland body is responsible for managing, maintaining, developing, and restoring inland navigable waterways primarily for recreational purposes.

There has yet to be an indication of how they intend to plead.