Crowds gather in tribute to Air France victim

A MEMORIAL Mass for Aisling Butler, the Tipperary doctor who died in the Air France disaster, took place last night in her home town of Roscrea.

Family, friends and neighbours gathered at St Cronan’s Church and were joined by some of Dr Butler’s former colleagues from Tallaght hospital where she had worked in the accident and emergency department.

The chief mourners were her parents, John and Evelyn, and her sister, Lorna (28).

The church was packed to overflowing – with crowds arriving over an hour before Mass began at 8pm. Two buses from Dublin arrived with former student friends and work colleagues of Dr Butler. An estimated congregation of 1,000 also included Bishop of Killaloe Willie Walsh. The Butler family had requested that instead of flowers, donations could be made to Tallaght hospital.

Two large photographs were placed on the altar: one showing Aisling Butler on her graduation day; the second taken during her travels in Australia. Gifts included a textbook to honour her “academic excellence” and a stethoscope.

Dr Butler, who was 26, had graduated from Trinity College Dublin in May of 2007 and had previously worked in Limerick Regional Hospital and the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise.

She was due to take up a post in St James’s Hospital, Dublin, next month.

Dr Butler and two friends – Dr Eithne Walls (28) from Co Down and Dr Jane Deasy (27) from Dublin – had been returning from a holiday in Brazil when their flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappeared in circumstances that have yet to be explained.

Members of both the Walls and Deasy families were also present in the congregation.

In his homily, parish priest of Roscrea Fr Tom Corbett described Dr Butler as “a lovely daughter, gifted woman, great human being and fun-loving friend” whose “sudden and mysterious death” had brought “anguish, grief and desolation to her family”.

In a poignant reference to the ongoing search for bodies in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, he told mourners that “it is our fervent wish that we will bury Aisling in this church”.

Fr Corbett said “the three young doctors, carers of the living and lovers of life, were friends on the journey of life” who had “lived for each other” but “now by a distant accident had died together”. He said the wider community was “left deprived of the services they would have given us”.

Sr Berchmans Whelan, principal of the Ursuline Convent secondary school in Thurles, spoke affectionately about Dr Butler who was a a past-pupil. A  special memorial Mass will be held at the school when the current exam period has ended. All 135 past-pupils who sat the Leaving Cert in 2001 with Dr Butler will be invited.

A total of 228 people died when Flight AF447 disappeared over the Atlantic. In addition to the three Irish citizens, Arnold Gergel (33) from Slovakia and an unnamed Estonian (25), who both worked as baggage handlers for Aer Lingus at Dublin airport, died.