"I have been told I have to rest, " said Paul O'Brien, from Terenure, in south Dublin.

"Otherwise I might have a heart attack from all the stress and grief."

Last week, the O'Brien family, which has launched an international campaign for justice, took their case to Washington after it emerged that Lynsey had been served 10 alcoholic drinks in less than two hours by a barman on the luxury liner.

Brian Mulvaney, a friend of the family who had travelled with the O'Briens on the Caribbean cruise, spoke to the US Congress, urging them to impose federal regulations on the industry.

"If they take passengers from a United States port, they are responsible for returning them safely or be held accountable if they commit crimes or acts of gross negligence, " he said.

Lynsey's father spoke of how this photograph . . . the last one to be taken of the O'Briens by photographer John Ryan . . . is giving his family some comfort. "She was the light of my life and you can