The Dublin City Coroner has found that three Irish people who died in Thailand at the beginning of this year were victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
The coroner said the deaths of Eilish Finnegan, Lucy Coyle and Michael Murphy were consistent with drowning, and expressed the deepest sympathies of all in court to the three families.
He noted the young ages of each of the three victims and described their deaths as a devastating loss.
Earlier, the court heard how two gardaí travelled to Thailand with DNA samples, dental and medical records and fingerprint evidence in an effort to identify the Irish victims.
Eilish Finnegan was identified by her boyfriend, Barry Murphy, and her friend, Sinead Ní Muircheartaigh, when they saw a photograph of a body they believed to be Eilish and compared it to her dental records.
Lucy Coyle and Michael Murphy were identified four months after the tsunami, as a result of the medical records and fingerprint evidence gardaí brought to Thailand.
Each of the three victims were formally identified a second time when their bodies were brought home to Ireland.
The coroner's court also heard how there are still around 1,500 victims of the tsunami who have not been identified.
