Ashes from the site of the World Trade Centre in New York will arrive in Cork today where they will be scattered on the site of the Clifford family grave in the city.
Mr John Clifford and his brother, Mark, lost their sister, Ruth McCourt and her daughter Juliana (4) when the United Airlines jet, on which they were travelling, crashed into the south tower of the trade centre last week. They had left Logan airport in Boston en route to Los Angeles when the aircraft was hijacked.
On Tuesday night, a commemoration ceremony was held in Cork for Ruth and Juliana and according to Mr Clifford, the public outpouring of grief for their family was overwhelming.
"Now we are bringing home ashes from the site and this will be part of a very private ceremony. Our intention is to scatter the ashes on the family burial site at St Finbarr's cemetery and this is something we need to do for ourselves. It is something we are doing for our own comfort. We held a mass on Tuesday and the public was invited to attend that and it was a very moving occasion," he said.
Mr Clifford's other brother, Ronnie, was working in the World Trade Centre in New York as the first of the two aircraft smashed into one of the towers. He escaped unharmed and it took over an hour before he was informed by his family in New Jersey that his sister and her daughter had been killed on board the aircraft.
Mr Clifford said that last Saturday Mr David McCourt, his brother-in-law and his brother, Ronnie, held a family service in Connecticut where the McCourts had been living for many years. More than 600 people joined the family for the service. A scholarship fund for the promotion of peace and racial harmony has been established in Connecticut in the name of Juliana McCourt.
The Juliana Valentine McCourt Children's Education Fund is aimed at creating a permanent memorial for the four-year-old. Dozens of donations have been made to the fund which is being run by a charity foundation in New London, Connecticut. The foundation's executive director Ms Alice Fitzpatrick said: "Whatever money we collect will go to non-governmental organisations committed to teaching tolerance and understanding among the people of the world."
The fund can be contacted c/o Community Foundation of South East Connecticut, PO Box 769, New London, Connecticut 06320.