An Irishwoman from Cork and her three year old daughter were among those who lost their lives on one of the planes that slammed into New York's World Trade Centre yesterday.
The hijacked plane was travelling from Boston to Los Angeles when it crashed into the Centre's south tower with the loss of all those on board. The woman was named last night as Ms Ruth Clifford McCourt (45) who was on the flight with her three year-old daughter.
They were originally from Cork but were living in Connecticut and were travelling on United Airlines Flight 175 which took off from Boston but was highjacked en route to Los Angeles and hit the South Tower of the Trade Centre.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, last night send his "heartfelt sympathy" to their family.
In New York, meanwhile, there was speculation that several Irish people, or people of Irish-American extraction, were likely to be among the dead whose bodies are trapped in the rubble of the centre's two collapsed towers.
The city's fire and police departments are known to have employed many Irish-Americans. Many workers from both services, perhaps several hundred, were inside the towers when they collapsed.
It is also feared that some Irish people were employed in the many financial service and other companies that occupied the center.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has opened a series of helplines. Two freephone numbers were opened yesterday afternoon and a further two in the evening. They are: 1800-401800; 1800-385858; 1800-715165; and 1800 715159.
The Irish embassy in Washington has also set up a special email line. The address is: embirlus@aol.com.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was in constant contact with the Irish missions in Washington and New York and they were in touch with the US security authorities to obtain further information.
In a statement, the Department said: "We are advising our mission in the US to inform Irish nationals who make contact with them to make contact directly with their relatives in Ireland if possible.
"We wish to advise callers to be patient as it will take time to obtain reliable information."
A Department spokesman said it was likely to be a couple of days before the full picture became known.
A spokesman for Enterprise Ireland said he was "pretty certain" no Irish companies had offices in the trade centre. "It tended to be used by the big US financial companies.
The Department's spokesman said the evacuation of the Irish consulate in Boston had made it more difficult to establish if there were any Irish passengers on board any of the hijacked airlines.
Ireland's ambassador in Washington, Mr Seβn ╙ hUiginn, said officials would be working "round the clock" to get information for relatives in Ireland.
"We are very much dependent on the information where we can source it and that's not forthcoming as yet. I think the authorities are very concerned about rescuing people as the first emergency reaction. So it'll be some time, I think, before we have a considered reaction."
He said people could contact the Irish consuls in the US directly on 001-2123192555 (New York) and 001-2024623939 (Washington).
Speaking on RT╔ television, he said: "We are obviously very aware that there will be people in Ireland deeply concerned at this.
Mr ╙ hUiginn said he couldn't speculate on possible casualties. "Clearly a number of people managed to get out of the World Trade Centre, but one has to be concerned that there would have been large numbers who may not have done that.
"Given that there are up to 45,000 people, I understand, working in the World Trade centres, one has to be very concerned that there will be a very high carnage rate in that area."
