'Why them?' Clonmel gathers at vigil to mourn 'four beautiful young lives'

Friends, neighbours and relatives of Luke (24) and Grace McSweeney (18), Zoey Coffey (18) and Nicole 'Nikki' Murphy (18) began gathering in the late afternoon, before the 6.30pm vigil. 

Murmured prayers and hushed condolences occasionally broke the shocked silence across the plaza in Kickham Square before the service began.

A dozen of Zoey’s classmates from Presentation School Clonmel lined up before the altar, wearing purple hoodies, with Class of 23 emblazoned on them. The hoodies were designed by Zoey.

The vigil opened with a soloist singing Ave Maria, with white-clothed tables on either side bearing the framed photos of Zoey, Nikki, Grace and her brother Luke.

The singer's voice echoed against the old stone walls of the former barracks, soaring over the tearful faces all turned towards her, their voices a sombre murmured accompaniment reverberating together throughout the square.

Clonmel Mayor Richie Molloy said what happened on Friday night was a reminder to us all about what can happen when our children go out at night.

“It shows how fickle life is and how — in the blink of an eye — everything can change,” he said. 

He said the vigil was very important to show the grieving parents of the deceased young people “a feeling of unity, sympathy and solidarity”.

Mr Molloy also said that although Clonmel is a large town, “we are still a close-knit community”.

Father Michael Toomey, the chaplain at CBS High School who has been comforting the bereaved families and schoolmates of those who died since Friday night acknowledged the feelings of senselessness among the crowd. 

“'I don’t know what to say' is something I said to Nicole and Zoey’s parents,” Fr Toomey said. “It has been a long weekend.

“It doesn’t make sense.

“Why them? It is a question we will never get an answer to."

Addressing the shocked young people who have lost their friends, he told them that the best support might be the one standing closest to them.

He said there had been “lots of hugs going going on” since Friday night and examples of people “minding each other” but, he added, “above all talking to each other”.

He said he has spoken to many parents since Friday, and — again addressing youth in the assembled crowd — “they worry about you, it comes with the job”.

He said Friday’s deaths sent “ripple effects, shock waves across our schools, town country” and he said that while “none of us will ever get over their deaths, we will learn to live with them”.

He implored the young to talk to their friends about how they are coping. 

“We in Clonmel look out for each other,” he said, as he finished.

“Let’s stick together and look out for each other.”

The town's different religious communities were also represented by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Imam Abdul Jalil, and Imam Abdul Rouf from the Tipperary Islamic Cultural Centre, and parish priests Fr John Treacy and Canon Brendan Crowley.

Bishop Cullinan spoke of “a great silence” in the crowd in the plaza but also of the “four beautiful young lives that have left them”.

He urged that people pray and said that somehow “their families will struggle on” with people’s prayers.

The service ended with the song, Rise Up by Andra Day.

As the soulful ballad echoed round the square, many who had been holding in their emotions allowed the tears to flow freely and sobbing was audible.

The lyrics include the lines:

"I'll rise up / High like the waves / I'll rise up / In spite of the ache / I'll rise up / And I'll do it a thousand times again."