The funeral has taken place of Caitríona Lucas, the Irish Coast Guard volunteer who lost her life while taking part in the search for a missing man on Monday.
One of the survivor’s of the tragedy in Kilkee, Jenny Carway, also attended the funeral mass while James Lucey, who was rescued from the base of the cliff in the same incident, was unable to attend and is recovering from his injuries.
Thousands of people turned out at Liscannor Church last night while hundreds more attended Caitríona’s funeral mass this morning.
Parish Priest Fr Denis Crosby described Caitríona as a “gracious wonderful woman” and spoke about her “great spirit of service and generosity.”
Minister for Transport Shane Ross was present while President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were represented by their aides-de-camp.
Caitríona’s son Ben described his mother as “an exceptional person who loved life, loved the sea and loved the Coast Guard.”
As many as 200 members of the statutory and voluntary emergency services formed a guard-of-honour outside the church before Caitríona’s coffin was carried the mile to Kilmacreehy cemetery.
Members of the various emergency services took turns carrying the coffin.
A massive number of Irish Coast Guard volunteers and fulltime staff attended the funeral along with emergency services personnel from across Ireland and the UK.
These included members of local authority fire services, Civil Defence, Order of Malta, Mountain Rescue teams, An Garda, H.M. Coast Guard, RNLI, National Ambulance Service and many other groups.
The Shannon based Irish Coast Guard helicopter also flew over the graveyard.
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Caitríona is survived by her husband Bernard, son Ben and daughter Emma.
