Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ar mo shon féin agus ar son mo pháirtí, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le clanna agus cáirde go léir muintir Carty agus Hayes as ucht an dúnmharú uafásach a tharla i Tunisia laethanta ó shin. Is olc an scéal é. Dúnmharú uafásach ar fad a bhí ann. Déanaim comhbhrón le gach éinne atá ag fulaingt anois.

I join with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste by expressing my sincere sympathy and that of the Fianna Fáil family to the families of Lorna Carty from Meath and Larry and Martina Hayes from Athlone, who lost their lives last Friday. Their families and friends are devastated at this sudden and shocking loss. What happened on the beach in Tunisia was a massacre, an appalling murder by fundamentalists who target people at will. It is an attack on civilisation as we know it and is serious for many reasons. People have been attacked and murdered in a mindless way on an ongoing basis and the attack in Tunisia represents a further escalation of that type of wanton attack. It was an appalling atrocity and 39 people's lives were ruthlessly and recklessly taken as they lay on a beach.

We know that Lorna Carty went on holidays to Tunisia with her husband Declan who was recovering from a recent bypass. They were no doubt both relieved that the surgery had gone well and they left their farm to relax on a sun-filled holiday. Their son Simon was minding the farm and their daughter Hazel was away on holidays, after finishing exams. It is horrific to think of the suddenness and appalling, shocking circumstances of how Lorna was barbarically and ruthlessly murdered and taken from her beloved family. She was a nurse who spent her lifetime looking after others in her community. Not far from Lorna on the beach were Larry and Martina Hayes. They were also enjoying their holiday and were brutally murdered in broad daylight as they were sunbathing. They were a popular, well liked and well known couple from Athlone and their only daughter Sinead is now left without her beloved parents. It is too shocking to comprehend.

We also sympathise with all of those who died and their families. Our near neighbours in Britain suffered the biggest loss of life since the 7/7 bomb attacks in London ten years ago. We sympathise with all of the British families who have also lost their loved ones.

It is important that we reflect on the nature of these attacks on our citizens. Europe and the civilised world need to act cohesively and urgently to stop the corrosive malignancy that extremist groups like ISIS bring when they infiltrate communities and endeavour to persuade young men and women to murder with such an absence of any feeling for their fellow human beings.

I thank the Department of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Cooney who moved to Tunisia from Madrid to be with the families and thank the Department for the consular assistance it is providing. It is crucial the families get all the support they can get in shocking circumstances such as this and I have no doubt that they will. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamnacha go léir agus déanaim comhbhrón leo.

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