The heartbroken mother and aunt of two of the Berkeley balcony tragedy victims said her family is not living - only existing.
Ashley Donohue, 22, and Olivia Burke, 21, plunged to their deaths while on a J1 visa in California in 2015 after the balcony they were standing on collapsed.
Six students were killed and several others injured after falling 50ft from the fourth floor apartment in Berkeley, California.
The wood supporting the balcony had rotted due to rain, causing the collape.
Ashley’s mum Jackie Donohue said parents who send their children on a J1 to America could never have foreseen the horror.
She said: “How many people will tell their kids ‘don’t drink and drive, text me when you get there’.
“Ashley that night did text me to say she arrived at the party.
“It was a Monday night and for their friend’s [birthday] but in a million years I don’t think any parent would ever say you know, ‘don’t step out on a balcony in the United States of America because it could be the last step you take’.
“How many people send their kids away on a J1 from here? And they don’t think it’ll be the last time that they’ll see their kid.
“They were all 21, doing what they should be doing. It was a horrible, horrible night.”
Ms Donohue said her daughter’s death still feels like yesterday and is something that her family will never get over.
She said: “When you lose a child you just don’t expect your children to die before you.
“It will never go away, it feels like it could be yesterday. The intensity is definitely still there.
“I don’t think we will ever find a new normal, we’re just existing. Everything you have to look forward to it gone.
“She was a wonderful daughter both and her and my niece Olivia they were best friends and she was the type of kid that everyone looked up to.”
Jackie will accept a Presidential Distinguished Service award from President Michael D Higgins tomorrow for her work successful campaigning for changes in building legislation in California.
Part of her campaign is questioning why the state’s construction licensing board “is not going after the big companies.”
On investigation she found a member of the board was the owner of a construction company that paid out millions for ‘water intrusion’ damage, which was the cause of the Berkeley balcony collapse.
On accepting the award, Ms Donohue told The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTE Radio 1: “It’s bittersweet.
“I’m very humble and shocked to be receiving the award but for me I am accepting it on behalf of the six souls that passed that night. I think about them all the time.”
She said that the drive behind her campaign to change the law came from what she felt her daughter would have wanted and will continue to fight to tighten construction regulations.
She said: “She [Ashley] would definitely say Mum get them don’t let them get away with it.”
