Murder victim's 'warmth' recalled

Siobhán Kearney was "a woman who could mix with anyone, at all levels, without favour", mourners at her funeral Mass heard yesterday.

In his homily at her funeral in Dalkey, family friend Fr Ivan Tonge also paid tribute to her warmth and generosity.

Siobhán's sister, Aisling McLaughlin, quoted Auden's poem Funeral Blues "on behalf of our mother and father, for Siobhán".

She was my North, my South, my East and West
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Anne-Marie Sparks recalled her sister Siobhán's love for her son, Dan, and how just weeks before she died she had spent five hours going around Garda stations in Dublin city centre to see whether anyone had handed in Dan's lost "Nanu", a stuffed toy he brought with him everywhere and which he lost while they were in the city earlier that day.

She expressed the family's "heartfelt appreciation" to their friends, without whose help "we would never have got this far".

Another sister, Caroline, read from a letter she had written Siobhán last October: "My dear amazing sister,. . . glamour girl. . . fantastic cook. . . true friend. . . wonderful auntie. . . most amazing smile. Unforgettable."

At at her removal the previous evening, the Church of the Assumption was packed with hundreds of mourners.

Siobhán's body was found in an upstairs bedroom at her home in Goatstown, Dublin, on February 28th last. She had been strangled with flex from a vacuum cleaner. Gardaí believe the scene was arranged to make it look like suicide. During the Prayers of the Faithful yesterday Siobhán's friend Margaret O'Callaghan asked God to "guide all those working for truth and justice for our Siobhán".

Siobhán (38) and her husband Brian Kearney owned a small hotel in the Sóller region of Majorca but lived in Dublin for periods each year. Their three-year-old son Dan was in the house when she was found. Gardaí are confident they will bring her killer to justice.

Readings at the Mass were by Chris Gagliardi and Brighid McLaughlin.

Mourners included Siobhán's husband Brian Kearney, her parents Deirdre and Owen, her sisters, Brighid, Deirdre, Aisling, Caroline, Anne Marie, Niamh, brother Owen, sister-in -law Ali, brothers-in-law Alan and Chris.

The Mass was celebrated by Fr Tonge, assisted by Fr John McDonagh, parish prist at Dalkey, and curate Fr Peter Sinnott. Music was by Moya Brennan, Imelda Duff, Ronan Hardiman, Paul Harrington, Ciarán Nagle, Leslie Dowdall and Dave Keary.