Clonmel crash: ‘Very difficult few days’ ahead with funerals of four victims

There are “a very difficult few days” to come for the people of Co Tipperary, with the funerals of four young people killed in a road traffic collision in Clonmel last Friday taking place later this week, a priest has said.

The funeral Mass of siblings Grace (18) and Luke McSweeney (24), from Clonmel, is to take place at St Peter and Paul’s Church in the town on Friday morning.

Zoey Coffey (18), from the nearby village of Kilsheelan, will be buried on Saturday afternoon following her funeral Mass at the same church. The funeral of Nicole ‘Nikki’ Murphy (18) takes place on Thursday in the village of Kilcash, close to Clonmel. .

The four young people were killed when, amid a heavy downpour of rain, the car they were travelling in flipped and hit a wall on Clonmel’s Mountain Road. The three teenagers had been due to travel to Carlow that night to celebrate receiving their Leaving Certificate results.

‘Yesterday we found out she received her CAO offer’ - crash victim Zoey Coffey remembered

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Clonmel crash: The four young people who lost their lives

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Ms Coffey and Ms McSweeney were former students at Presentation Secondary School in Clonmel, while Ms Murphy previously attended the town’s Loreto Secondary School.

Fr John Treacy, parish priest in Clonmel, told RTÉ that the mood in the town was one of devastation and desolation. He said there would be “a very difficult few days” ahead for families, friends, classmates and the wider community in Clonmel and Co Tipperary.

“I was talking to Luke and Grace’s mother and father yesterday, Paul and Bridget. And they were remarkably dignified and remarkably together at meeting and greeting Luke and Grace’s friends as they come through the doors of the house in large numbers,” he said.

Fr Treacy said the teenagers had completed their Leaving Cert exams and were preparing to begin a new phase of life but their aspirations, and those of their parents, had been “dashed in such a cruel and devastating way”.

“It is the love of a parent for their child. It’s just you know, it’s an unspeakable, inseparable bond of love and fidelity and tenderness and compassion. And to lose that is just something that words cannot adequately describe,” he said.

Speaking to reporters in Drogheda, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said the thoughts of the country were with the people of Clonmel and the bereaved families.

“It’s just been a horrific tragedy on top of... tragedies that have affected the class of 2023,” he said, referring to the untimely deaths of Dlava Mohamed (16) and Kiea McCann (17) in Clones, Co Monaghan earlier this month, and Max Wall (18) and Andrew O’Donnell (18) in Ios, Greece in July.

He added: “For a class and for a generation who have been through so much - lived through a pandemic and everything else, gotten to this point of achievement, I’m really conscious of the great sense of grief and upset that they’re feeling.”

He said he would work closely with Minister for Education Norma Foley “to make sure that young people are supported”.

Books of condolence – one for each of the crash victims – opened on Monday morning at Tipperary County Council’s offices in Clonmel.

Two planned performances of From Out the Land, a production presented by Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, will not go ahead on Thursday and Friday, in a mark of respect for the crash victims. The festival’s artistic director Clíona Maher quoted a song from the play in a statement released about last Friday’s tragedy.

“‘A town is humbled silent, they wipe their tears away’: The opening lines of Kate Twohig’s song that begins From Out The Land seems particularly apt as we come to terms with the deep grief and sadness felt by all of us here in Clonmel,” she said.

“Many of our team and our performers are personally impacted by the tragedy and we’re focusing on being there for each other in this very difficult period.”

Three former classmates of Ms McSweeney and Ms Coffey at the Presentation Convent in Clonmel on Monday paid tribute to their late friends. Kaitlyn Conway, Laura Cooney and Enya Galligan told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the community was heartened by the support they were receiving from all around the country.

“They were two of the loveliest girls you could ever meet. If you were ever upset they would be the first to be there for you, always a smile on their faces, and wouldn’t have a bad word to say” said Kaitlyn Conway.

“They had such a positive impact and they were so kind to everyone and they never had any issue. They were just so kind and so nice and it’s just very hard to believe they’re gone,” added Laura Cooney.

“I just want to say about Zoe, she lit up every room she walked in, she was the life and soul of the party. She was just like a mammy to us all. If we ever needed anything, we’d go to her. And Grace, she was the hardest working person I think I’ve ever met in my life. And it’s just so upsetting to see that their lives were taken so soon in such a tragic way,” said Enya Galligan.

The three friends spoke of how Zoe joked about everything and how she thought of everyone before herself. She was a really good organiser and would be the first person to wish you a happy birthday.

Grace was “such a comforting and comfortable person.”

It was some comfort to know that Zoe and Grace were now together forever, they said. They had always been “joined at the hip.” It meant a lot that so many people had turned out at the vigil to remember the four who had died so tragically.

The Leaving Cert results were now “just a few numbers on a piece of paper,” the events of Friday night highlighted the importance of family and friends and health and that “at the end of the day if things didn’t go your way, all we need is each other. It puts things into perspective. Life is too short to be worrying about things.”