Fr Bernard Mulkerrins with Bridie O’Dea Jordan, Ella Quinn Whelan, Bernie Connolly Ryan and Margaret O’Dea. Bridie and Margaret O’Dea sadly lost two sisters, Anne and Mary, to the tragedy. Photograph by Eugene McCafferty
Last weekend there were poignant scenes in New Quay, North Clare, when relatives and friends gathered to remember the nine children and teenagers, who died in a drowning accident 50 years ago. See this week’s Clare Champion, for an interview with Kieran McInerney, who survived but who lost his brother Francis and his best friend Seamus Gaynor in the tragedy. Kieran spoke about his recollections of that awful day on June 29, 1969.
Pictured are some of the scenes from last weekend’s moving ceremony, while there are more in this week’s Clare Champion.
Kieran McInerney with his own family attending the special Mass at St Patrick’s Church, New Quay. (l-r) Two sons Francis, named after his brother who died in the tragedy, and Alan with Kieran and his wife Bernie. Photograph by Eugene McCaffertyPadraig Connolly remembering his sister Suzanne Connolly at the monument in St Patrick’s Church to those who died in the New Quay boat tragedy. Photograph by Eugene McCaffertyBridie O’Dea Jordan, Pauline O’Dea (née Quinn), Ann Hoban (née Keane), Ella Quinn Whelan and Bernie Connolly Ryan, who all lost loved ones in the New Quay boat tragedy on Sunday 29th June 1969. Photograph by Eugene McCaffertyParish Priest Fr Colm Clinton and Fr Bernard Mulkerrins join surviving family members at the monument erected in memory of the victims of the New Quay boat tragedy to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster which occurred on Sunday, June 29, 1969. Photograph by Eugene McCafferty
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.
