THE GRANDMOTHER of five-year-old Ryan O’Dwyer Hayes, who died on Easter Sunday morning in a suspected arson attack on a house in Cork, lit his baptismal candle at the funeral Mass yesterday.
Ryan and his aunt Helena O’Dwyer (25) perished in a blaze in Ryan’s grandparents’ home on Nutley Avenue in Mahon.
His schoolbag, Nintendo and uneaten Easter egg were laid beneath a picture of his smiling face at the North Cathedral yesterday, a poignant reminder of his youth.
The suspected attack was described yesterday as a “senseless act of violence” during prayers of the faithful read by relatives of the O’Dwyer family.
Chief celebrant Fr Tom Walsh said an outrage had been committed against life and goodness.
“Someone acting as an angel of death brought death and destruction to the O’Dwyer home. It is not an isolated incident. Every day in our newspapers and on our TV screens we see the spiralling growth of crime,” he said.
Fr Walsh gave thanks for Ryan’s short life and for the joy he brought his family during his few short years on earth.
Ryan’s mother Josephine wept as the small white coffin was shouldered from the altar by pallbearers. Gardaí escorted the funeral cortege across the city to St Michael’s cemetery, where Ryan was laid to rest.
His aunt will be buried today in a neighbouring grave.