Repatriation of irish victims to take place within 24 hours

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has said he expects the bodies of the three Irish victims of the Tunisian beach massacre will be flown home within the next 24 hours.

Final preparations are taking place for the repatriation of the bodies of Lorna Carty from Robinstown, Navan, and husband and wife Martina and Laurence Hayes from Athlone, who were killed in the tragedy last Friday.

Lorna, a nurse in the Bedford Medical Centre in Navan and mother-of-two, had been on the last day of her holidays with her husband, Declan, in Sousse when she was killed, along with 37 other holidaymakers.  

The Foreign Affairs Minister said the formal identification process had been completed in Tunisia and he expected that, over the next 24 hours, the bodies of the deceased would be flown home to Dublin.

An RAF aircraft has this afternoon repatriated the bodies of eight of 30 Britons who died in the mass shooting.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been signing a book of condolence which has been opened at County Hall in Navan as a mark of respect to Mrs Carty.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has also opened an online book of condolence for members to express their sympathy to the husband and family of its long-standing member.