Funeral details released for tragic swimmer Deirdre McShane

Deirdre McShane died, and one other woman was treated in hospital, after entering the water at Ballycastle beach on Monday.

The 58-year-old mother of two worked as a community midwife for the Northern Trust.

This morning, family and friends of Ms McShane gathered on the beach in the cold December wind before dawn for a vigil.

Family and friends brought flowers to throw into the sea following a short service in her memory.

Ms McShane was a member of an informal, local swimming club who were interested in health and wellbeing, and emergency services said she had arrived on Monday morning in a group of four.

Two of the women entered the water while two did not.

A funeral notice said Ms McShane’s remains will leave her home at 16 Harbour Road, Ballintoy on Friday at 11.15am for a noon Requiem Mass at St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Church in Ballintoy.

The Reverend Dr Alex Wimberly, recently appointed leader of the Corrymeela peace organisation, led this morning’s vigil.

“Although there are no easy answers in a tragedy like this and no one to blame, we have seen so much to give thanks for in a community that has rallied round the family and each other,” he told the BBC following the service.

He continued: “This day we give you thanks for Deirdre, for her strength and her joy, for her determination to be her full self and to do each day what she loved.

“We thank you for her encouragement of others, her skill and care at work, her affection and attention at home, her courage and her love of life, even in her death.”

In a statement, the Northern Health Trust described Ms McShane as “kind, dedicated and passionate about providing excellent maternity care to mothers and babies”.

A spokesperson said she would be missed “incredibly” by her colleagues.

Family member and Sinn Fein councillor Cara McShane described Deirdre as a “pillar of strength” for her two children and said the family had been left “devastated” and “numb” by the tragedy.

The death came after a dramatic rescue attempt by passer-by Aine Patterson, who pulled both women from the sea.

Christopher McCaughan, a retired Royal Navy Reserve officer, and former coastguard auxiliary, told the News Letter he will push for a “small, in-shore lifeboat for Ballycastle”.

Mr McCaughan, an official with the Co-op, said his organisation had recently donated to the RNLI.

“A small in-shore lifeboat that could link-up with the larger boats would improve response times,” he said.

Ms McShane is described in a family notice as the “much loved mother of Roísín and Odhrán, beloved partner of Joe and loved by his daughter Sarah, dear sister of Seamus Óg, Siobhán, Donagh and Fergal and a very dear sister-in-law and aunt.”