"This could happen to another family."

The sister of Ruth Maguire has called for a safety barrier to be introduced at the Carlingford pier where the mother-of-three was found. Ruth passed away while attending a hen party in Co Louth last month. Her body was discovered some hours after she was reported missing. Her family still don't know how she ended up in the water. Ruth's sister Rachel Wilkinson told RTE One’s Sunday With Miriam that it was "out of character" for the 30-year-old to not return home from the hen. “She wouldn’t have ever gone to a party somewhere else or she wouldn’t have met up with a different crowd," she said. "She just wouldn’t have done that. She was a home bird, she would have just wanted to go home." Rachel said that there should be safety barriers erected at the pier where her sister's body was discovered, but that until the inquest into Ruth's death is complete, the council cannot address the issue. "Even so much as a child could run out chasing a ball," she said. "There’s no barrier there whatsoever."

“In the interim this could happen to another family. This could be somebody else’s sister, somebody else’s daughter. “There’s a wall leading to the pier and even that’s quite open. A gust of wind and a child could be in the water."

Ruth's family could be waiting up to a year before the council can erect a barrier at the pier.