IMPACT pays tribute to 'valued colleague, good friend and dedicated public servant'

IMPACT trade union  has paid tribute to Caitríona Lucas, who died yesterday  while on duty with the Doolin coast guard in Kilkee.

Caitriona worked as a librarian for Clare County Council and was a member of IMPACT’S Clare branch.

Seamus Ryan, a colleague and fellow branch member, paid tribute to Caitríona.

He said:“All of us who were fortunate to have known Caitríona and to have worked with her are devastated by her loss.She was a valued colleague, a good friend and a dedicated public servant. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to her family.”

In an awful reversal of roles, the people who regularly put their own lives in peril to save others found themselves the focus of a dramatic air and sea search that ended in tragedy for Caitríona Lucas, mother-of-two in her early 40s, from Ballyvaughan.

Together with Jenny Carway, 51, and James Lucey, 49, Ms Lucas had set out yesterday morning as part of a search for a man missing since last Friday. However, their Delta RIB flipped over as they searched near the cliffs at Kilkee around lunchtime yesterday.

The crew of the Shannon- based search and rescue helicopter Rescue 115 recovered Ms Carway and Ms Lucas from the water. However, efforts to reach Mr Lucey proved very difficult.

Ms Carway, the coast guard’s longest-serving volunteer, originally from Somalia, was treated by ambulance paramedics in Kilkee before being transported to University Hospital Limerick for further assessment.

However, Ms Lucas was airlifted to UHL in an unresponsive state, and was later pronounced dead.

Social media tributes are pouring in.

https://twitter.com/rescuegirlie/status/775472478663675904