A body found washed up along the west Clare coastline earlier this week has been confirmed as that of missing Limerick man Ross Minihan.
The 37-year-old father of two from Rathbane went missing before Christmas last year.
Around 5.00pm last Tuesday afternoon, the crew of the Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard spotted a body on the shoreline near Colmanstown Castle near Labasheeda in County Clare.
The helicopter crew had been on its way to a training exercise off Kilrush at the time and raised the alarm.
The Kilrush RNLI lifeboat attended the scene while members of the Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard were also mobilised to assist.
Garda investigations began and the body was removed to University Hospital Limerick for a postmortem, where it was confirmed to be the body of Ross Minihan.
The 37-year-old father of two children, Dawn and Darren had been missing since the 17th of December last.
The man from Sycamore Avenue in Rathbane but who had been living in Sixmilebridge was last seen in the Rathbane area that day.
Widespread searches took place for the missing father but were scaled down and eventually called off.
A post by one of Ross's sisters on 'Looking for Ross Miniahn' facebook page says Ross is at peace now and the whole family will never forget him.
Ross's funeral will take place on Wednesday in Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
He is survived by his parents Michael and Mary, children Dawn and Darren and sisters Tanya and Emma.
