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Books of condolences open for fire victims

 Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert died along with their daughters Kelsey and Jodie
 Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert died along with their daughters Kelsey and Jodie  Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert died along with their daughters Kelsey and Jodie

HUNDREDS of people across the Republic turned out to sign books of condolences for the families of the 10 victims of the Carrickmines fire tragedy.

Signing a book in Dublin’s Mansion House President Higgins said the whole country had been “deeply moved...in terms of the grief that must fall on these families”.

“I think it is a very good idea that there is an opportunity for the public too express their sympathy and solidarity with the families,” the president said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ordered flags to be flown at half mast at Government Buildings when the funerals of the victims take place.

The severity of the blaze which gutted two portacabins at a temporary halting site on the Glenamuck Road in the early hours of October 10, means formal identification of the victims is expected to take weeks.

Those who lost their lives have been named as Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert along with their daughters Kelsey and Jodie. Ms Gilbert was pregnant with the couple’s third child.

The other family wiped out by the tragedy included married couple Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children Jim, Christy and six-month-old baby Mary.

Mr Lynch’s 39-year-old brother Jimmy also died in the fire while two adults and a child remain in hospital. Details for the families’ funerals are still being finalised.

The St Vincent de Paul charity is liaising with Traveller representatives to raise funds for more than a dozen people left homeless as a result of the fatal fire.

Geraldine Dunne of Southside Travellers Action Group (STAG) yesterday praised all those who had offered support.

“There’s no word to describe it. It has been really, really good, from all the agencies, Southside Travellers, the community, the Gardaí,” she said.

Forensics teams have been combing through the debris to determine what caused the blaze but Dublin Fire Brigade is already indicating that foul play does not appear to have been a factor.

However, the multiple deaths have sparked widespread calls for greater efforts to provide proper accommodation for Traveller families.

The Irish Traveller Movement and other groups have criticised the scale of unsafe and overcrowded housing for families, saying funding for accommodation had plummeted by over 90 per cent since 2008.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has called for a national safety audits of halting sites across the south to guard against future tragedies, adding that the scale of the tragedy must motivate “society to affirmative action”.

Separately, the Green Party environment spokesman Councillor Malcolm Noonan is seeking the elimination of temporary halting sites claiming families are being forced to live in “tinderboxes all over the State”.