A Ballyvaughan community will be united in grief today as Deirdre McCarthy is laid to rest.
Her mother, brother and sisters will be joined by family, friends and neighbours for her funeral in the North Clare village later.
The 43 year old’s body washed up on Fanore Strand last Thursday after she suffered a violent death and a garda investigation into the case is ongoing.
Ballyvaughan Parish Priest Father Richard Flanagan who will be the Chief Celebrant for today’s funeral mass has been liaising with the McCarthy family over the past week and has praised what he calls their fortitude courage and dignity in coping with the tragedy.
The entire north Clare community were left numbed last Thursday when a three day intensive search for Deirdre McCarthy ended with the discovery of her body on Fanore Strand – gardai say she suffered a violent death and they belive her body entered the water at another location.
Officers who are heading up the investigation say they are treating it as serious as a murder inquiry and believe the answer to the 43 year old’s death lies within the community.
Hundreds of people are expected to gather at Saint John the Baptist Church at 12 today to pay their last respects to Deirdre McCarthy before she’s laid to rest at Bishop Quarters Cemetery- and offer sympathy to her grieving mother Helen, brother Tom and sisters Helen, Christina, Bernie and Ann.
