The father of two women killed in a collision between a school mini-bus and a lorry at Kilbride, Co Wicklow, last Monday spoke yesterday of his family's "deep agony" at their loss.
Addressing mourners at the funeral of his daughters, Ms Sharon Sheehan (23) and Ms Fionnuala Byrne (19), Mr Sean Byrne said his family had been rich up until Monday morning. "We were not Lotto winners, but we had two beautiful daughters, who were swept away like grains of sand in the wind and all their hopes and aspirations with them."
Sharon, who was married to Mr Michael Sheehan, was working as a helper on the mini-bus alongside her unmarried sister, Fionnuala, who was working as a volunteer with children attending St Catherine's special school at Newcastle, near Newtownmountkennedy.
Also killed in the accident were schoolboys Kevin O'Leary (10) and Robert Cullen (11) and the mini-bus driver, Mr Jackie Kavanagh (51), who were buried in Arklow on Wednesday. Two other boys, Jason Hayden Reid (10) and Anthony McDonald (17), who were on the mini-bus remain in hospital.
The funeral service, which was conducted by Father John Piert, was attended by the local Church of Ireland vicar, Rev Nigel Sherwood, and the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Dr Martin Drennan.
The President, Mrs McAleese, was represented by her aide-decamp, Comdt Tony O'Doherty.
In his homily, Father Piert said "too great a sacrifice makes a stone of the heart", but he added that "in Ireland over the last 25 years the bereaved have been able to reach out to others, even those who they may have felt were part cause of their grief". He praised the expressions of sympathy for the family of the lorry driver and for the driver himself. As the coffins were taken from the church, guards of honour were formed by pupils of St Mary's National School, Arklow, and the Arklow Youth Marching Band, of which the sisters had been members.
