Former cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann Tras Honan, the first and, so far, the only woman to chair the upper house of the Oireachtas, has died at the age of 93. She was born Tras Barlow on January 4, 1930, in Dublin. She was educated at St Leo’s Convent in Carlow and the Mercy Convent in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Her father, Matt Barlow, was a republican activist in the War of Independence and later set up a farm machinery company in his native Clonmel.
A plane crashed beside Waller s Island in 1958, causing the death of a photographer. Another photographer got a last-minute change of instructions and avoided the tragedy