Funeral details of victims of Carrickmines fire released

Talks on emergency site for surviving Connors family adjourn without resolution

A candlelight vigil for the 10  people who lost their lives at Glenamuck halting site fire in Carrickmines,Dublin. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos
A candlelight vigil for the 10 people who lost their lives at Glenamuck halting site fire in Carrickmines,Dublin. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Details of the funerals of the 10 people who died in a fire at a temporary halting site last weekend are beginning to emerge, with the first to take place on Tuesday.

The bodies of the five adults and five children were returned to their families on Friday night, having been formally identified using DNA and dental records.

The first of the funerals, that of Willie Lynch (25), his partner Tara Gilbert (27) and their children Jodie (9) and Kelsey (4), will be held in Bray, Co Wicklow on Tuesday.

The funeral of Jimmy Lynch (39), Willie’s brother, will also take place in Bray at noon on Tuesday.

READ MORE

Requiem Mass

Their requiem Mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Bray.

The family were from the Fassaroe area of the town and were visiting Willie and Jimmy's sister, Sylvia Connors (25) and her young family at the site on Glenamuck Road, Carrickmines, when the fire broke out.

The funeral of Sylvia Connors, her husband Thomas Connors (27) and their three children, Jim (5), Christy (2) and Mary (5 months), will be held in Wexford on Friday.

The removal service will be held at Bride Street Church in Wexford at 5pm on Thursday.

The funeral Mass will take place at 12pm on Friday, October 23rd, in the same Bride Street Church, followed by burial in Crosstown cemetery.

Prayers will be held for the Connors family at the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Balally, in south Dublin at 11.30am on Thursday.

Rockville Drive

Separately, talks about the location of an emergency site for the surviving 15 members of the Connors family adjourned on Friday night without resolution.

Housing officials at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council will meet residents of Rockville Drive for a fifth time on Monday in the hope of getting their agreement to the council’s plan to put four mobile homes and two out-houses on a one-acre field adjacent to the cul-de-sac.

The council says the families would be there for a maximum of six months while works on a permanent site elsewhere will be completed.

All 15 of the survivors lost family members in the fire. Among the 15 are two surviving children of Sylvia and Thomas Connors. One of them, Tom Connors (4), remains in Crumlin Children's Hospital, where he is said to be "recovering".

The proposed emergency site is about 1km from the site of the fire on Glenamuck Road. The surviving family members are currently in emergency accommodation.

The council had hoped to complete works on the site before the funerals.

Having identified the site at Rockville Drive last Monday, residents of the 44 houses were informed with a circular delivered on Tuesday morning.

Assurances not believed

They say, however, that they were not consulted about this, that the site is not suitable and they do not believe council assurances that it would be “decommissioned within six months”.

They have parked cars at the entrance to the site to prevent works beginning.

Residents met officials over three days, with talks twice on Friday. They are seeking legally binding assurances that the site will be cleared of the Connors family by the end of April 2016.

They are also seeking assurances on a number of “site management issues”, a council spokesman said.

He said “following lengthy discussions” into Friday night, “progress has been made”.

“There remain a number of outstanding issues which require further clarification and discussion, and work will continue on these issues.

“Everyone is conscious of the need to provide an emergency site for the families of last week’s tragedy as soon as possible.”

If residents continue to resist the council’s plans it is open to the council to press ahead against their wishes - by court injunction against the residents if necessary.

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland is Social Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times