Miriam’s last text: ‘We’re feeling a bit sick’

THE woman who died after celebrating a hen party night in Kinsale sent a text message to a friend, hours before her death, complaining she and her sister were feeling sick.

Miriam Reidy, 35, and her older sister, Patricia, had gone to bed at 1am on Sunday at the Trident Hotel, where a suspected gas leak took place, while the remainder of the 30-strong hen group partied the night away at one of the bustling Co Cork town’s nightclubs.

At 4.25am, feeling unwell and unable to sleep, Miriam sent a message from her mobile phone to another member of the hen party, saying: “How are you feeling? We’re feeling a bit sick.”

The girl, who received the text message, Mairead Reidy, a sister and future bridesmaid of Marie Reidy, replied: “I’m fine.”

But little did the party know that just hours later that text message would be the final one they’d ever receive from Miriam, who’s originally from Ballyhahill, west Limerick.

It also emerged last night that future bride Marie, a nurse, tried to administer CPR to Miriam and Patricia, her first cousins, at 1.30pm on Sunday when they were both discovered unconscious on their hotel room floor.

Soon after checking out of the White Lady at midday on Sunday, Mairead, became concerned when calls she made to Miriam and Patricia went unanswered.

Starting to panic, she then called Marie, the bride-to-be, and asked her to call into the Trident to check on the two girls, as she was aware they were due to get a 1pm train home.

Marie, and four other friends, asked reception staff at the Trident to open the door to the room when there was no answer after they knocked on the door.

Discovering both girls unconscious, nurse Marie got the other girls to put Patricia into the recovery position and administered CPR to them both, while the alarm was raised.

Last night, as gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority continued separate investigations into the cause of the incident, details of the hen night emerged.

Twenty-six members of the group stayed at the nearby White Lady hotel, where they congregated at 5pm on Saturday to kick-off their night in style with a slap-up meal.

The girls, who were described as being “in brilliant form,” then enjoyed a cocktail hour at 9pm at the hotel, before hitting the busy pubs and bars in the town centre.

Later that evening they returned to the nightclub at the White Lady Hotel, where most of the party danced the night away into the early hours.

Miriam and Patricia, both of who were understood to have drank very little alcohol that night, were the first to leave, returning to their room at the nearby Trident at 1am.

Anne Collins, co-owner of the White Lady Hotel, last night said: “We’re all just devastated and lost for words at the moment.

“We had 26 of the girls staying here and, like any hen party, they were in fantastic form on Saturday night.

“They were all having the time of their lives. It’s just very difficult to come to terms with what’s happened.”

Marie is due to get married the weekend after Valentine’s Day.