Tunisia victims will be home in next 24 hours
The three Irish victims of the Tunisia terror attacks will be home within 24 hours, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has said.
Final preparations are underway for the repatriation of Lorna Carty, a nurse from Robinstown, Co Meath, who went on a sun holiday to help her husband Declan recover from a heart attack, and husband and wife Martina and Laurence Hayes, from Westlodge, Athlone, who also died in the atrocity.
Mr Flanagan, who was at a Somme commemoration in Belfast, said the bodies of the three victims are being flown to Dublin.
“The formal identification process has now been completed in Tunisia, there were formalities that were undertaken,” he said.
“In terms of dealing with the authorities there we expect that over the next 24 hours the bodies of the deceased will be returned to Dublin and thereafter the funeral arrangements will take place at the behest of the families.”
A minute’s silence was held in the Dail parliament yesterday as a mark of respect for the victims, while flags flew on Government Buildings at half mast.
Books of condolences were also opened in Meath, Athlone and online by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The funeral for Mrs Hayes and her husband, known as Lonnie, will take place at the Church of Saint Peter and Paul in Athlone on Friday.
