There were heartbreaking scenes today as a couple and their little grandson were buried following another horrific crash in Tipperary this earlier this week.
And mourners were told heard how people behind the road death statistics are “not just numbers”.
Fr Enda Brady, Parish Priest of Cashel and Rosegreen, told mourners at St John the Baptist Church in Cashel that behind the figures “there is a face, there is a heart, there is a personality, there is an individual”.
Thomas and Bridget Reilly, who were both in their 40s, and their three-year-old grandson Tom Reilly had been back seat passengers in a car that crashed into a wall outside Cashel on Tuesday night.
All three were buried afterwards in St Cormac’s Cemetery in Cashel.
“Tom and Bridget’s children remember the parents who loved and cared for them and their nephew, who, in three short years, endeared himself to the family,” said Fr Brady.
“Their parents, brothers and sisters, cousins and extended family remember the people that were Tom and Bridget Reilly, they remember young Tom, the character that will be remembered throughout Ireland with his thumb raised in the air”, he added.
Fr Brady said: “The way they laughed and cried, the way they interacted, the way they were, these are the traits and qualities that we remember today as we celebrate the funeral Mass for a small boy and his grandparents.”
Fr Brady said there is a sadness when there is one coffin and a grieving family in the church, however, he said “today’s gathering of three coffins has left a family shattered, a community numbed and a people grappling for words”.
President Michael D Higgins and Commandant Claire Mortimer Aide De Camp representing Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were at the funeral mass.
Members of the emergency services, including local Superintendent Keiran Ruane, members of the National Ambulance Service, the fire service and representatives of Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel.
