Mr and Mrs Hayes are survived by their daughter Sinead.
Advertisement
Clare bus drivers were “shocked” by the indiscriminate murder of Athlone-based bus inspector, Laurence Hayes and his wife, Martina, according to a local councillor.
Guards of honour from Order of Malta and Bus Eireann accompany the funeral procession over Athlone bridge today.
On Thursday night, up to 2,000 people attended the couple’s removal at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Athlone to pay their respects.
The community that gathered for the couple’s funeral Mass yesterday was told that they died at “the hands of a crazed, brain-washed fanatic” by his killing rampage on a Tunisian beach had “stunned the entire nation into disbelief”.
“It is unprecedented, unreal, nearly impossible to come to terms with”.
“We never thought it would trouble us here in Ireland, so far away”.
Larry and Martina Hayes. “The violence is now at our own doorstep”.
A Bus Éireann employee, Councillor Tony O’Brien, who knew Mr Hayes personally, said it was “incomprehensible” what had happened to the couple.
Gifts brought to the altar during the service included Larry’s Bus Éireann tie and flowers from Martina’s garden.
Lorna Carty – one of the three Irish people killed in a terrorist attack in Tunisia – will be laid to rest later.
A final repatriation flight is expected to arrive in the United Kingdom later today, carrying the bodies of five British people killed in the Tunisia terror attack.
It is believed he was in the pair’s room when the attack occurred.
Canon Liam Devine, in his homily, addressed their daughter Sinead at the funeral mass today, stating: “We don’t have to wait for Holy Week to experience Good Friday”.
Advertisement
Her funeral mass will be at 12pm on Saturday, with burial afterwards in Retaine Cemetery.
