OVER 260 Irish citizens died abroad in 2015, in what was an unprecedented year for overseas deaths and injuries following tragedies in Berkeley, Tunisia and Paris.
The Department of Foreign Affairs provided consular support to over 2,300 Irish people last year, including the families of the 263 people who died abroad.
Last September The Irish Post reported exclusively that from May to August last year, 100 Irish holidaymakers died around the world.
This was the highest number of deaths of Irish citizens abroad in the last five summers.
Colin Bell from the Co. Down-based Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust said the organisation saw a noticeable increase in the numbers of fatalities in 2015.
“We were noticeably busier than in the previous year,” he said. “The most surprising incidents took place at the end of November and early December in Perth, Australia, where we helped bring eight bodies home within just a short space of time. They were all accidents and unrelated, which was unusual.”
The most recent tragedy occurred when Kerry footballer Patrick Curtin died in hospital aged just 26 in Florida on December 29 after suffering serious head injuries in a car crash in Guatemala just before Christmas.
Over 1,000 people attended his funeral in Kerry on Sunday at The Church of the Assumption in Moyvane.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said: “Demand for frontline services across the world increased significantly over the past year, as did the complexity of cases handled.
“In terms of responding to major crises, 2015 saw an unprecedented level of action by Department staff, who assisted over 800 Irish citizens caught up in crises abroad.”
Last summer began with great sadness for Ireland and its people after six Irish students — five of them Irish citizens — died in a balcony fall in Berkeley, California in June. A further eight were badly injured.
Then, less than two weeks later, three Irish people were killed in a terror attack in Tunisia, when a gunman opened fire on tourists on a beach in Sousse.
Holidaymakers David Houlihan, Alan Drennan and Eamon Buckley are also among those who sadly never arrived home from Thailand, Ibiza and Croatia respectively.
In November an Irishman suffered a gunshot wound in the Paris terror attacks whilst visiting the French capital for a weekend trip.
In April, 170 Irish citizens were also caught up in a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.
With the European Championships in France this summer and the Olympics in Rio, Minister Flanagan additionally urged Irish citizens to take out appropriate travel insurance.
The Department’s Consular Division also issued a total of 54,982 authentication documents in 2015, including educational certificates, legal documents and company documents.
It registered 5,826 people for Irish citizenship with the majority of these applications received through Embassies and Consulates in the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and South Africa.
Furthermore, 2,835 civil letters of freedom were issued to Irish citizens getting married or entering civil partnerships abroad, with the five most popular countries being Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, and Germany.
