Funeral for siblings killed in Clonmel crash will take place on Friday

Flowers and tributes left at the scene in Clonmel Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

The funeral for two siblings killed in a crash that also claimed the lives of two other young people will take place on Friday.

Around 2,000 people gathered in Clonmel in Co Tipperary on Sunday evening for a vigil for 24-year-old Luke McSweeney, his 18-year-old sister Grace McSweeney and Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, both also aged 18.

Grieving family members and classmates of the victims of Friday evening’s crash were among those who attended the emotional event at Kickham Plaza.

A book of condolences opened at County Hall in Clonmel on Monday.

Pupils from the class of 2023 from Clonmel Presentation Secondary School attend a vigil in Clonmel Credit: Brian Lawless/PA

Parish priest Fr John Treacy said the funeral for Mr and Ms McSweeney would take place at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Clonmel at 11.30am on Friday.

Details of the other two funerals had yet to be released on Monday morning.

Fr Treacy said “very difficult” days lay ahead for the families.

Mr McSweeney was driving the teenagers to a bus on Friday when the car overturned and crashed into a wall in Clonmel.

The youngsters were on their way to celebrate their Leaving Cert exam results, which they had received earlier on Friday.

Bouquets of flowers, notes and candles have continued to be left at the wall of Loreto Secondary School, where Ms Murphy went to school and which is around the corner from the scene of the crash on Mountain Road.

At Sunday’s vigil, classmates of Ms McSweeney and Ms Coffey from Presentation Secondary School wore lilac jumpers that commemorate their graduate class of 2023.

Young men and women embraced one another and cried as the vigil came to a close with the song Rise Up by Andra Day.

Flowers and tributes left near to the scene of the crash Credit: Brian Lawless/PA

Earlier on Sunday, students attended Loreto Secondary School and Presentation Secondary School to mourn together.

Speaking after Sunday’s vigil, Bishop of Waterford Alphonsus Cullinan said there was a “strength” in the community coming together in grief.

“Because there’s so many people here, it just shows the strength of community that’s here, the bond that’s here,” he said.

“Everyone here has a connection with what those three families and those four youngsters, God love them all.

“So, there’s a real strength in that consoling one another, helping one another, to go through the grief, praying together, as well as singing together, crying together.

“It’s heartbreaking and there’s no easy solution. There’s no easy words. We just have to find the strength to struggle on.”

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