Luke Hyde (33) of Wolfe Tone Street in Cork will be laid to rest after Requiem Mass in Cork on Monday morning.
The young man got into difficulty while swimming near St Mary’s Church by Pope’s Quay at around 6.45pm last Wednesday.
His body was recovered from the water by emergency services.
A post mortem examination was completed at Cork University Hospital (CUH).
Luke’s heartbroken mother, Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Hyde, contacted Cork RedFM’s Neil Prendeville Show in the aftermath of the tragedy to express her disgust at a decision by some onlookers to record the drowning of her son rather than do anything to help him.
Ms Hyde had heard the helicopter overhead as it went up and down the river last Wednesday – and said she prayed for whoever they were looking for, not realising it was her own son.
She rang her son’s phone to make sure he was alright, only for a Garda to answer it.
Ms Hyde rushed to the scene and was shocked to see what onlookers were doing by the quay walls.
“It was like a circus, watching my son drown, instead of trying to help him. When I got down, they were putting him into the ambulance and I saw the crowds, I didn’t know what was going on.
“I said I need to hold my boy, I need to see him. I don’t know what his last thought or words were. I was thinking, ‘Did he call my name,” she asked?
“What have people in the world come to? Morons. I don’t even think there is a word to describe them. It will never leave me. I don’t know how I’ll ever forget it. I never will. It will live with me forevermore.”
Ms Hyde has lost two sons in tragic circumstances.
Her son Brian died in his sleep in 2019.
Her youngest son Luke would have turned 34 next month.
He had started a new job last weekend at a branch of Tesco in Douglas in Cork.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin responded to the tragedy on Friday.
He offered his sympathy to the family of the deceased whilst expressing his revulsion at the behaviour of a number of the onlookers.
“It is a very sad and regrettable feature of modern life. It was horrendous what happened, and my understanding is two fellows went in for a swim, both got into difficulty, and one was able to get out and raise the alarm.”
“I read what the fire officer said…that they found it very difficult to comprehend that there were no lifebuoys thrown in to help but people were taking photographs or videos. For family members it is very traumatic and it is very, very sad.”
Luke was predeceased by his brother Brian and his father Michael.
He is survived by his son Leon, his mother Lily, siblings Michael, Mark and Lucia, extended family and a large circle of friends.
Luke’s Requiem Mass will take place at 10am tomorrow (Monday) in the North Cathedral in Cork city with burial following at St Catherine’s cemetery in Kilcully.
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