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As WTC impact hits home, Irish struggle for answers

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Pierce O’Reilly

“We simply don’t know how it’s going to effect some people,” Fr. Tom Flynn, an Irish chaplain serving New York’s immigrant community, said this week regarding the fallout from the Sept. 11 World Trade Center terrorist attack.

“The only thing we are sure of, is that it will effect us all in a different way and right now we’re concerned that there is adequate counseling help available for anyone who requires it.”

For the last 15 days, Irish immigrants, like the rest of the country, have been glued to their TV screens, watching the grueling, disheartening search-and-rescue effort unfold. For some, it has been an overwhelming spectacle.

Sadly, a 23-year-old County Tyrone native who, it is believed, lost three friends in the attack took her own life on Tuesday, Sept. 18. A Ladies GAA enthusiast, she was a popular member of the Kerry team. New York LGAA public relations officer Pauline Boylan called the woman’s death “heartbreaking.”

“Our hearts go out to her sister here in New York and her three aunts right now,” Boylan said of the woman, who had recently learned that she’d been approved for a green card.

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Flynn, who spoke at last week’s funeral service, was gutted. “I don’t know what to say,” he uttered to an overflow crowd of distraught young people at the Williams funeral parlor in the Bronx.

Flynn reiterated later that many people are struggling to come to grips with the terror tragedy, with some coping better than others. He noted that he knows of some older Irish immigrants, those who arrived in the 1950s and ’60s, who are frightened to leave their homes.

“It is depressing for a lot of the elderly people and I can understand how some people will find it difficult to comprehend,” the Tipperary native said.

One of the most difficult aspects for the families of the many missing Irish-born victims is that they may never find a body to bury. Last Wednesday, Sept. 19, the family of Martin Coughlan, 53, from Cappawhite, Co. Tipperary, bridged that mourning gap when his body was pulled from the rubble late in the evening.

“It gives the family a sense of closure, if nothing else,” Flynn said.

For the many other families that are missing a loved one, their hope is gradually fading. On Monday, New York’s mayor, Rudi Giuliani, noting that no one had been rescued from the rubble since the day after the attacks, said it would be a miracle is anyone is found alive at this stage.

Not even Martin Coughlan’s wife, Catherine, was allowed to view his remains after they were removed from ground zero. His coffin was closed from the moment it left the New York City recovery morgue. The rescue crews and investigating team set up by the state to identify the bodies, confirmed it was Coughlan’s corpse when his wallet was located in a piece of clothing.

The New York City and State investigators at the World Trade Center have confirmed that identification of those still missing may now take months. The medics at the WTC have asked family members of people still missing to bring toothbrushes, razors, cigarette butts and hairbrushes to the information centers so DNA may help identify the bodies and body parts that rescuers have recovered.

Firefighters are finding 400 body parts a day, according to some reports, while going through an estimated 500,000 tons of rubble from the 110-story twin towers and other structures destroyed or damaged when two hijacked planes slammed into the complex.

More than 6,000 people remain missing. Investigators will use jewelry, dental work or even clothing to narrow their search for names. Children and parents of those feared dead are also being encouraged to provide DNA samples. The Irish government is helping with DNA samples coming from Ireland to help identify the Irish remains.

New York’s chief medical examiner, Charles Hirsch, said police would manage the collection of personal items like toothbrushes and underwear and also swabs from the inside of relatives’ mouths to identify victims by DNA.

“It will be the most likely identification means in this disaster,” Hirsch said.

For his part, Fr. Flynn is concerned for the exile Irish community.

“We’ll have counseling services available at all our outreach centers this week,” he said. “It’s important that people come forward if they need any help. We don’t care about legal status.”

Also, it is also believed that three undocumented Cavan construction workers are unaccounted for. One source said the construction company they work for has failed to come forward and report the workers because of fears of INS repercussions. Family members in Cavan have been in touch with their local TD, Caoimghin O’Caolainn, and have relayed their concerns. O’Caolain has been in contact with the Irish Consulate in New York and other Irish outreach centers.

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