President to meet families in Union Hall

President Michael D Higgins is to visit Union Hall next month to meet with the families of the five trawler men who died when the Tit Bonhomme sank in mid-January.

Fr Pierce Cormac, who helped the families through the trauma during a near month-long search off West Cork, said the president had been in constant touch, either personally or through his secretary, to keep updated on what was happening.

“He expressed the wish to come down to Union Hall to meet the families and the local people and this will happen at 11am on Apr 22,” Fr Cormac said.

“He wants to express his empathy and that of the Irish people to them.”

Fr Cormac, a chaplain in the Mercy University Hospital, said he took a call at least once every week from the president personally, while his secretary would have phoned nearly every day to check on the progress of the search and to see if there was anything Mr Higgins could do for the families.

“The President said he would come down when the people had gathered their thoughts and he also wanted to ensure that the families, especially the Egyptians, would have time to make arrangements to be there,” the priest said.

President Higgins will attend an ecumenical service at Union Hall that morning and will then address the local community which turned out in force to aid the search.

“After that, he will personally meet all the families. It is a nice touch and in all fairness he has been very supportive all along,” Fr Cormac said.

The trawler sank after hitting rocks in Glandore Bay as it was returning from a fishing trip.

Egyptian crewman Mohammed Elgwad was the only survivor.

The bodies of Kevin Kershaw from Dublin and Egyptians Attia Shaban and Wael Mohammed were recovered in the days following the sinking.

On the morning of Feb 8, divers also recovered the body of the skipper, father-of-five Michael Hayes, and the following day they found the last body, that of Egyptian Saied Ali Eldin.

Meanwhile, on Friday the community will gather at St Brigid’s Church in Union Hall for Mr Hayes’s month’s mind Mass at which his wife Catlín, his children and other family members will attend.

“They will also be joined by members of the other families who lost loved ones,” Fr Cormac said.

Following the Mass there will be a special gathering in the local community hall which will be attended by people who were involved in the search operation.

Fr Cormac said that it was hoped to offer people bereavement counselling through the help of the HSE and details of that will be made available on the night.

Meanwhile, money is still being donated into a fund set up to help the bereaved families and defray some of the costs incurred by volunteers during the search.

* Anybody wishing to donate to the Union Hall Trawler Tragedy Support Fund can contact the AIB branch in Skibbereen.