On Saturday, 10 October 2015, a blaze swept through a

halting site A halting site (or a halting bay site) is purpose-built residential accommodation for Irish Travellers, Travellers provided by a county council, local municipal authority. The halting site has an individual bay for each family unit with a full ...

Carrickmines Carrickmines () is an outer suburb of Dublin in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. The area, still semi-rural, was historically on the border of English control and featured a defensive construction, Carrickmines Castle, which became the subjec ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It proved fatal. This was the country's deadliest such disaster since the

Stardust fire The Stardust fire was a fatal fire which took place at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February (Valentine's Day) 1981. Some 800 people had attended a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were injure ...

. The fire led to a debate about the squalid conditions in which many members of the Irish travelling community live.

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

visited the scene and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast. Books of condolence were opened throughout the country. President

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

and his wife

Sabina Higgins Sabina Mary Higgins (née Coyne; born 1941 or 1942) is an Irish actress, political activist and the wife of the current president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. Early life Sabina Coyne grew up on a small farm in Cloonrane, Milltown near the G ...

passed people of all ages queuing outside the Mansion House to sign a book there. Those who died were also honoured at vigils throughout the country. The

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

set up an emergency fund for the families of those affected. Crowds travelled from across Ireland and from neighbouring Britain to attend the funerals of the first five victims of the fire at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Bray on 20 October 2015. A letter from

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

was read towards the close and dignitaries present included the

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoi ...

Joan Burton Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and Leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Social Protection from 2011 to 2016, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2 ...

, and representatives of Taoiseach Kenny and President Higgins. Relatives of those who died later met Pope Francis in the Vatican.{{cite news, url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/carrickmines-family-members-set-to-meet-pope-francis-702437.html, title=Carrickmines family members set to meet Pope Francis, work=Irish Examiner, date=26 October 2015

References

2015 fires in Europe 2015 in the Republic of Ireland Fires in the Republic of Ireland 2015 disasters in Ireland October 2015 events in Ireland