Updated 3.30pm

UNIVERSITY LECTURER AND right-to-die advocate, Marie Fleming, was laid to rest in Wicklow this afternoon.

The 59-year-old passed away on Friday morning. She was suffering from the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis.

Her family said she passed “peacefully at home in the tender care of her beloved partner Tom”.

A well-known name in Irish households, she had lost a legal case to secure a right to die at the Supreme Court recently. She wanted to ensure that her partner, Tom Curran, would not be prosecuted if he helped her end her life.

However, the highest court in the land ruled that there is no Constitutional right to die or to be helped to do so.

She is survived by her children Corrinna and Simon and stepson David, as well as two brothers, a sister and grandchildren.

Her remains were removed to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Castlemacadam at 1.15pm. Hundreds of mourners attended funeral mass at 2pm before burial in the adjoining graveyard.

The family has requested any donations in lieu of flowers to be given to the Carer’s Association.