The closely knit community of Kilworth near Fermoy, Co Cork, was last night rallying around a grieving family which lost two members in a car crash yesterday. Parish priest Fr Donal Leahy said the community was in shock over the deaths of Geraldine Clancy (58) and her daughter Louise (22), who were killed about 1km from their home in the townland of Leitrim.
“The place is still in a state of shock – everyone’s thoughts are with the Clancy family, Noel and the couple’s other children, Declan and Fiona – it’s a desperately sad tragedy for them and they are first and foremost in all our prayers,” he said.
“To lose anyone is a tragedy but for a family to lose two members and so close to Christmas and so close to their home, travelling on a road they would have used so often and known so well, it’s just shockingly sad and it’s so difficult for all of them.”
Fr Leahy said he knew the Clancy family well and described them as “lovely people”. “They are members of the farming community and are long-established in the area.”
Cllr Frank O’Flynn, from nearby Glanworth, extended his sympathies to the Clancy family and said the incident had stunned local people. “There’s an awful sense of sadness around Kilworth and Fermoy and surrounding areas ever since the news of the tragedy broke this morning. They’re a beautiful family and for this to happen. . . and just after Louise had come home from England. It’s going to be a tough Christmas for them.”
Louise Clancy was the youngest of three children. She attended Loreto Convent in Fermoy before studying at University College Cork, where she was in the journalism society. She moved to Britain earlier this year to study English literature and sociology at the University of Sussex in Falmer near Brighton.
Funeral arrangements have been finalised and Ms Clancy and her daughter will lie in repose at Ronayne’s Funeral Home on Lower Patrick Street in Fermoy on Christmas Eve from 7pm.
They will then be removed to St Martin’s Church in Kilworth on St Stephen’s Day for Requiem Mass at noon before being taken to St Michael’s Cemetery in Ballyduff, Co Waterford.
