Gardaí issue fines to mourners who broke 5km limit to pay respects at home of deceased

Deceased's son invited people to the family home where his father's remains lay in repose

Michael McCarthy died at the Mercy University Hospital, Cork, on Sunday. Picture: Larry Cummins

Several fines were issued for suspected breaches of the 5km travel rule as mourners gathered to pay respects following the death of a prominent member of the Traveller community in Cork.

A Garda spokesman said a “sympathetic but assertive” policing operation was mounted on Wednesday in an effort to deter a large crowd gathering on the city's northside for the funeral of Michael ‘Mike the King’ McCarthy, who died in the Mercy University Hospital on Sunday.

Gardaí had been liaising with close family members and with Traveller representative groups both locally and nationally, and with input from the clergy and the undertakers, to stress the importance of adherence to the public health guidelines.

Under level 5 restrictions, attendance at funerals is limited to just 10 people.

But in a post on social media, one of Mr McCarthy's sons invited people to call to the family home on Tuesday afternoon and to wear face masks, as his father's remains lay in repose.

Gardaí mounted a “proactive policing operation” and issued several fines for 5km travel breaches as a steady stream of people called to the home.

More than a dozen gardaí were then deployed around the church in Blackpool yesterday, with checkpoints set up on some approach roads, but attendance at the funeral Mass was limited to just 10 family members.

Mr McCarthy was buried in Kilcornan, Co Limerick, later.

Mourners were led at the Mass by his wife, Margaret, and their children.

In an emotional tribute from the altar, Margaret described her husband as “the love of her life”.

“We were a happy man and woman. He was full of craic and jokes, full of life and happiness,” she said.

“He was one proud father. Mike never died. It was the virus that killed him.”