Community mourns loss of mother and daughter

A DISTRAUGHT local community gathered in sadness last night for the removal of the remains of the mother and daughter who lost their lives in a harrowing flash flood tragedy in West Cork last week.

Órla O’Driscoll, 33, and toddler Muir, aged three, were swept to their deaths in a tributary of the Coomhola River last Thursday.

Mother and child, side by side in the one coffin, will be laid to rest today at the Abbey Cemetery in Bantry. Among a large and dignified attendance at last night’s removal were family, friends, ex-Cork TD and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Barry, and ex-president of the GAA, Con Murphy. Brazil-based Fr Tom O’Shea, an uncle of the late Mrs O’Driscoll, received the remains at St Finbarr’s Church.