Lyra McKee’s mother Joan Lawrie dies

Tributes have been paid to Joan Lawrie, the mother of murdered journalist Lyra McKee, who has died.

Ms Lawrie's daughter Nicola McKee Corner said her mother died "peacefully" on Tuesday night.

In a Facebook post, Ms McKee Corner said that her heart was comforted knowing that Ms McKee and Ms Lawrie are "together again".

Ms McKee, who was her disabled mother's main carer, was shot dead in the Creggan last year by a New IRA gunman while observing a riot behind police lines. Ms McKee Corner said Lyra's death had a profound effect on her mother.

Coronavirus: First death confirmed in Ireland as WHO declares a pandemic

---

The record-breaking power of storm waves at Aran

---

Coronavirus containment: what we can learn from the Black Death

---

Man (28) dies following two car collision in Donegal

---

“They killed her the day they killed her precious baby girl,” she wrote.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney paid tribute to Ms Lawrie and offered his condolences to her family and friends.

“Joan Lawrie was a mother who raised a beautiful family. They were her world and last April that world was turned upside down with the brutal murder of Joan’s daughter, Lyra McKee,” he said.

“I met Joan alongside President Higgins, the Taoiseach and the British prime minister in the side chapel of St Anne’s Cathedral and she told us all she had ‘lost her baby’. It is a moment I will never forget. All of our hearts broke for an innocent young woman and her innocent mother and family.”

Mr Coveney called on anyone with information on the murder of Ms McKee to cooperate with the PSNI. Paul McIntyre (52), of Kinnego Park in Derry, has been charged with murdering the journalist and possessing a firearm. He denies the charges.