Funeral of Katy French in Enniskerry today

The funeral of model and socialite Katy French will take place in her home village of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, this afternoon.

The funeral of model and socialite Katy French will take place in her home village of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, this afternoon.

Ms French, who died on Thursday evening after falling ill at a house in Co Meath the previous Sunday, will be buried afterwards in the churchyard of St Patrick's Church, Powerscourt, Enniskerry. The ceremony will commence at 2pm.

A Garda investigation into her death, involving officers from the National Drugs Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, is continuing.

It is understood to be focusing on tracing Ms French's movements before she was taken to Our Lady's hospital in Navan on Sunday of last week.

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The Garda press office has declined to comment on reports that the postmortem on her body had found she suffered brain damage and that traces of cocaine had been found in her body.

Yesterday, former Miss Ireland Andrea Roche, who was a friend of Ms French and had spent time with her on the afternoon before her collapse, confirmed that she voluntarily spoke with gardaí last Wednesday at the request of Ms French's father, John.

She said Mr French had told her that gardaí were trying to piece together a picture of Katy's movements and state of mind before she took ill.

"We spent the Saturday afternoon in the Dundrum shopping centre working on a pilot television programme about modelling. We were to be joint presenters," she said.

"Katy was in great form and was very optimistic about a couple of TV shows that were in the pipeline."

"She was also looking forward to making a family lunch to celebrate her aunt's birthday the next day. We said goodbye to each other about 6pm, and she said she was going home for dinner with her mother. That was the last time I spoke to her. The next time I saw her she was in a coma in hospital."

In a death notice announcing details of her funeral, her family described Ms French as "our Katykins". They have asked for any donations to go to support the work of the charity, Goal, with the street children of Calcutta.

Ms Roche said Ms French's family have asked mourners to attend dressed in colour.

"Katy had a great fashion sense and was full of joy. She would like that to be reflected at her funeral," she said.