Town comes to standstill for funeral of brother and sister who died in crash

The Co Tipperary town of Clonmel came to a standstill as the funeral service for a brother and sister killed in a road crash took place.

Luke McSweeney, 24, and Grace McSweeney, 18, were among four people who died in the tragedy last Friday, August 25.

A funeral service was held for Nicole Murphy, 18, on Thursday, while Zoey Coffey, 18, will be laid to rest on Saturday morning.

Irish president Michael D Higgins, Commandant Claire Mortimer, aide de camp representing the Taoiseach, and Education Minister Norma Foley joined the mourners at Saints Peter and Paul’s Church in Clonmel on Friday morning.

Crowds lined the street as two hearses drove side-by-side through the town to the church.

The two coffins, one of white wood and one of brown, were carried in before crowds filed in through the doors of the church after them.

The street outside remained packed with mourners after the pews in the church filled up.

All the shops and businesses in the town closed during of the funeral.

Father Billy Meehan opened requiem mass, thanking the community for their support for the families of the young people.

“We hope and pray together we will be able to move forward,” he said.

“It’s a great sign and mark of respect that all the shops and businesses in our town are closed down for these couple of hours.

“We greet our president, Michael D, it’s a sign of his great commitment to the people of Ireland, to his reaching out to people at all times in their lives.”

Mr McSweeney had been driving the teenagers to a bus last Friday when the car overturned and crashed into a wall in Clonmel.

The youngsters were on their way to celebrate their Leaving Certificate exam results, which they had received that day.

Three more lives were lost in another road tragedy in Co Tipperary days after the Clonmel crash.

Thomas O’Reilly, 45; his wife, Bridget O’Reilly, 46; and their three-year-old grandson, Tom O’Reilly, were killed in a single-vehicle collision in Cashel on Tuesday evening.

The child’s parents, both aged 22, were injured in the crash.