Council opens books of condolence
COUNTY Council chairman Cllr Paddy Kavanagh, accompanied by each of the four chairpersons from the Municipal Districts, opened Books of Condolence at the County Hall, in Wexford, yesterday (Monday) for the victims of the Nice terror attack in which 84 people were killed, 10 of them children.
Cllr Kavanagh said it was beyond comprehension that people should be attacked in this way.
‘We feel shock and revulsion at what happened.. that people, families, mothers and fathers and children out enjoying themselves for a national day of celebration should be attacked.. it’s beyond compehension that that this should happen,’ said Cllr Kavanagh.
He said each of the four chairs would bring books of condolences to the municipal offices in each of four towns for people to sign.
Cllr Kavanagh was returning back to Wexford from the French Embassy in Dublin on Thursday night when news of the Nice massacre broke. Paddy had been among a number of Wexford people attending the Bastille Day celebrations in Dublin at the invitation of French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thébault.
‘When the news of the attack broke, it really came home to us because we had been at the party,’ he told this newspaper.
Paddy said that during the reception a number of speeches had been made about the tough times France had been through as a result of terrorism.
‘ The next morning I sent a text to the ambassador who is a good friend of Ireland and Wexford,’ said Paddy.
He urged anyone with holiday plans to go to France, not to cancel them ‘ because if you do they [the terrorists] win’.
On Monday afternoon, at his first meeting of the Wexford borough district council as mayor, Cllr Frank Staples extended condolences to the people of Nice ‘who have suffered a terrible atrocity’.
Cllr Staples said he had sent a letter of sympathy and support to the people of of Nice on behalf of the people of Wexford.