TEN people – including five young children and a pregnant woman – were killed in a fire in Dublin over the weekend.
The blaze broke out in a caravan in the early hours of Saturday morning at an Irish Travellers' halting site in Carrickmines, on the outskirts of Dublin city.
The victims of the fire, which is not being treated as suspicious, were named locally yesterday.
Willie Lynch and a pregnant Tara Gilbert died alongside their young daughters Kelsey and Jodie in the fire, along with Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children Jim, Christy and Mary – who was just six months old.
Mr Lynch’s brother Jimmy also lost his life in the blaze.
Tara Gilbert with her daughter Kelsey. Picture via FacebookThe Connors’ third child, a son Michael, had been staying with his grandparents on the night of the fire.
The cause of the fire is not yet known but gardaí are treating it as a tragic accident.
It was around 4am on Saturday morning when emergency services were called to the scene and fire fighters battled the flames, preventing the fire from spreading further.
But sadly the two young families had died.
It is believed the fire broke out in one of the caravans before quickly spreading to the one next to it.
Messages of condolences have been flooding in since news of the tragedy broke.
The Republic of Ireland’s national football team held a minute’s silence for the victims of the Carrickmines fire before their Euro 2016 qualifier clash with Poland last night, while the Irish Government plans to fly the tricolour at half-mast over Leinster House for the funerals.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny said it was “an unspeakable tragedy” when he visited the site – and books of condolence opened in several locations in Dublin yesterday.
Tributes poured in on social media for the victims of the tragedy – with one mourner calling pregnant Tara Gilbert “an angel”.
“Can't believe youse are all gone I don't think that there is a god cause he wouldn't of done this if there were youse will be missed badly,” one relative Goldy Wall Connors wrote on Facebook.
Bereaved friends and neighbours have been coming out in their droves to support the Lynch, Gilbert and Connors families through their grief.
An online fund has been set up to cover the costs of the funerals for the 10 victims – with £3,000 of the £6,000 target raised so far.
Gardaí at the scene of the fire the following day. Picture: RollingNews.ie