A BOOK of Condolences for the victims of the recent tragedy in Berkeley has been opened at Wexford Co. Council and will remain in place and available for the public to sign until the end of this week.
Six Irish students lost their lives when a balcony collapsed at the Library Gardens apartment complex in the early hours of Tuesday. They were: Ashley Donohoe, Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Lorcan Miller, Nick Schuster and Eimear Walsh.
The students were attending a 21st birthday party in the apartment. Seven other Irish students were injured in the tragedy.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a number of other balconies in the apartment block have been sealed off, deemed ‘structurally unsafe’ or as ‘collapse hazards’.
The six students were all 21, from Dublin, and were working in California on J1 working visa, like the many thousands of others who have partaken in the popular programme in the past.
As the grief-stricken families arrived in California to bring home their loved ones, local authorities across the country have moved quickly to open books of condolences for those who lost their lives.
At Wexford Co. Council, Mayor of Wexford Cllr. George Lawlor, newly-elected Council Chairman Tony Dempsey and council CEO Tom Enright opened a book which will remain in place until later this week. Flags at the council headquarters also flew at half mast.
Cllr. Lawlor said the book was a direct response to the tragedy in Berkeley saying it was something which had struck a chord with every Irish family.
“I don’t think there is a family in the country that hasn’t had some connection to the J1 Programme over the years. These students attended a party, just as any normal young people do and this was an accident that could have happened anywhere, to anyone.”
He added: “This is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions and we can only offer our sympathies to those who have been bereaved.”
