Village brings Joan home for burial

THE FATHER of a woman who died in a scooter accident in Thailand yesterday paid tribute to the friends and neighbours who raised funds to bring her remains home.

“It was a very traumatic time for us,” said Mattie Lucey yesterday. “Without the support of people in the parish and the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs it would have been extremely difficult to get Joan’s body released and be able to bring her home,” he said.

The people of Ballinhassig village in Co Cork set up an emergency fund to help the Luceys bring home the 27-year-old’s body after she was killed in the accident in the Thai resort of Koh Samui on September 6. Her boyfriend, Fergal Flavin from Cork city, was injured in the crash.

It cost several thousand euros to bring Joan’s body home because standard travel insurance does not cover the accident.

Last night the chairman of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, Michael Kilcoyne, said insurance companies should provide mandatory cover for all holiday accidents.

“Things like this shouldn’t happen, especially as more and more people are going abroad,” Mr Kilcoyne said.

“The Ballinhassig Parish Accident and Emergency Fund was set up as a result of Joan’s death,” said fundraising spokesman Donal Coleman. “We decided to organise the fund to defray the enormous costs involved and to cover any tragedies or accidents which might occur in the parish.”

He said people in the area had been extremely supportive and any money left over would help provide assistance for other families if a similar tragedy occurred.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs guaranteed people in Thailand that the money would be paid and we will honour that,” Mr Coleman said.

Joan’s father, Mattie, a retired airport worker, and eldest sister, Margaret, flew out to Thailand and brought her body home last Wednesday.

“The fund will be a great comfort, a positive thing which has come out of this tragedy. It’s probably something all communities should think of setting up,” Margaret said.

Joan, who should have taken up a job in a jewellers in Cork city last week, will be buried in the nearby village of Ballygarvan following requiem mass on Monday afternoon.