Berkeley balcony collapse survivor Aoife Beary, 27, dies 

Aoife Beary told a public hearing in Sacramento that the incident changed her life forever.

Survivor of the 2015 balcony collapse in Berkeley, Aoife Beary, has passed away.

The 27-year-old passed away at Beaumont Hospital last night after suffering a stroke earlier in the week.

On June 16, 2015, Irish students celebrating Ms Beary's 21st birthday in Berkeley, California were standing on a balcony when it disintegrated beneath their feet, dropping them from the fourth floor to the pavement below. 

Ms Beary was one of seven injured, with students Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Ashley Donohue, Lorcán Miller, Niccolai Schuster, and Eimear Walsh all losing their lives in the incident.

The young Blackrock woman suffered a serious brain injury, broken bones and organ lacerations in the fall, and underwent open heart surgery as well as rehabilitation.

The following year, Ms Beary told a public hearing in Sacramento that the incident changed her life forever.

Aoife Beary was injured in the accident which claimed the lives of six other young students in 2015.

She broke down as she talked about her friends she had known since primary school who had died in the accident.

"I miss my friends so much - I have known them since we started school together at four years of age," she said.

"We had grown up together, and now my birthday will always be their anniversary.”

After the accident, families of the victims learned that the balcony had been built by a firm that paid out $26.5 million in construction defect settlements that were never reported to the state license board.

An investigation into the incident found that the balcony collapsed due to “rot and decay” in the wood.

Aoife Beary's mother and Ashley Donohoe's mother appealed to California lawmakers to pass proposed new legislation which would require greater transparency from the construction industry.