'We opened the Christmas presents on the coffins': Noel Clancy on the deaths of his wife and daughter

A man whose wife and daughter died in a car crash three days before Christmas has spoken about the aftermath of his loss.

Noel Clancy's wife, Geraldine, and his daughter, Louise, drowned after their car plunged into a ditch when it was struck by a car driven on the Ballyduff to Fermoy road on 22 December 2015.

Geraldine was driving Louise into Fermoy to catch a bus to Cork city when the collision occurred.

Noel told the Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 the day of the tragedy was "the worst day in the history of the world."

"2015 was the best year for I don't know how many years as regards road safety, but that's no comfort to me because my wife and daughter are dead. It was the start of the worst period of our lives."

Noel, who is a farmer, arrived on the scene on his tractor to help with rescue operations, unaware that it was his car with his wife and daughter inside.

"When I looked back from Mike, I looked at the car and I said it's the same colour as ours, dark blue. And I said God Almighty, it's a Ford Focus as well. Something went off in my head then.

"It was like watching a film scene. I arrived on the scene and within half an hour I was being asked to make decisions about burying my family," he said. "Even looking back after 15 months, it's hard to believe that it was real."

Noel met Geraldine when he was 19. "From our first date on 20 July 1980, from that day until 22 December 2015 we were a team. We were a great team.

On the morning of the crash, he rang Geraldine to let her know he was going home for a cup of tea. "She said 'I'll see you then', and that was her last words to me. That phonecall took 49 seconds."

Noel Clancy

Noel described how on Christmas Day he and his children, Declan and Fiona, brought unopened presents Geraldine and Louise had bought each other for Christmas into the funeral home.

"We went into the funeral home and we brought in the presents from under the tree that and Louise had for Geraldine and Geraldine had for Louise and we opened them on the coffins.

"The undertaker asked me a question... which coffin will we lower first? And I couldn't answer him."

A few hours later he rang the undertaker with his decision: "We will bury Geraldine first, and we will place Louise back in her arms."

Noel said the funeral made the tragedy hit him at last.

"To see my wife and daughter's coffins being lowered into the grave, it hits you then, it is absolutely final."

A 21-year-old student received a three-year suspended sentence. Noel has been campaigning for tighter laws around unaccompanied learner drivers since the accident.