THE DEATHS of three young men in a drowning in west Cork at the weekend have left the local community in a state of shock and disbelief, a priest told mourners at the funeral Mass for the first of the victims to be buried.
Fr Jim Lenihan said the deaths of Colum Harrington (21), Ferry House, West End, Bere Island, Shane Kelly (20), Cluin, Allihies and Fintan O'Driscoll (17), Foildarrig, Castletownbere had left people searching for answers.
"We feel an eerie silence, our faith shaken to the core, people are numbed, they are experiencing a terrible feeling of shock," said Fr Lenihan.
He was addressing the several hundred mourners who gathered inside and outside the tiny church of St Michael's at Ballinakilla on Bere Island for the funeral Mass of Colum Harrington, whose family runs one of the ferries to the island.
Mourners had begun making their way from Castletownbere and the Beara Peninsula across to the island by ferry from about 10am yesterday with buses collecting them at the pier on the western end of the island to bring them to the church three miles away.
Leading the mourners were Colum's father, Colum snr, his mother Ann, his brothers, Seán and Glen, and his sister Fiona. They heard Fr Lenihan speak of how Colum had touched so many people in his short life.
"The huge crowd here is just telling us the huge effect that Colum has made on this world, the friends that he made, the lives that he touched," said Fr Lenihan, adding he had "given so much happiness and joy through his short but full life".
Mourners heard how in the past few weeks, Colum had turned 21, become a godfather to his niece and had passed his driving test.
He had collected his full licence last Friday just hours before he died when the car in which he and his friends were travelling entered the sea at Dunboy.
Seán Harrington delivered a moving tribute to his younger brother, recalling the fun they had as youngsters and how he and his family would miss him.
He recalled how Colum had a narrow escape last year when he was hit by a bale of silage which could have killed him and how it had prompted him to reflect that he was going to live life to the full - as he remarked to their mother only a few weeks ago.
Afterwards, mourners braved an icy wind to gather in Ballinakilla cemetery where they paid their final farewell to the popular young Bere Island man.
Later last night, the removals took place of Colum's friends, Fintan O'Driscoll and Shane Kelly, who also died in the tragedy. Both will be buried today - Fintan in his native Castletownbere and Shane in his native Allihies.