TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to the woman who was swept into the sea off Connemara, Co Galway, late last week while she was scattering her sister’s ashes.
The woman has been named as Siobhán Monaghan, originally from Dublin and in her late 40s. She was scattering her sister’s ashes off the shoreline in False Bay, near Ballyconneely, when a swell swept her and her brother-in-law off rocks.
Her brother-in-law managed to swim to safety and raise the alarm, and Malin Coast Guard alerted both the Sligo-based Sikorsky helicopter and lifeboats from Clifden. Her body was recovered some time later on the shoreline by Cleggan Coast Guard unit.
Clifden Arts Festival director Brendan Flynn said she had been very involved in the early years of the community arts event, and was an extraordinarily gifted person, who was bright, sensitive and very helpful.
“I did not know her as well as others, but she was intelligent, wonderful, affirmative and had a talent for art in her own right,” he said. “She had been away for a number of years, and had only recently returned to live in Errislannan.”
Members of Clifden Arts Festival and the wider community held a memorial service in Ms Monaghan’s honour in Clifden yesterday evening.
Coastal areas were exposed to storm force south to southwest gales over the weekend, which caused some local flooding.
The Irish Coast Guard’s Sligo-based helicopter was called out to search for a man reported missing on Achill Island, Co Mayo, early on Saturday. The man was located safe and well by the local Coast Guard ground team.