The Co Mayo brother and sister, Tisha and Niall Murphy, who died in a drowning accident in the sea near their home at Belmullet last Thursday, were buried side by side yesterday.
Earlier, at a funeral Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Belmullet, the parish priest, Canon Paddy Hegarty, praised 15-year-old Tisha who, he said, had given her life trying to save five-year-old Niall from drowning.
Canon Hegarty recalled the events of last Thursday which occurred while the two were playing with an inflatable dinghy in the sea at Tra Mor, near their home. "Tisha loved her brother," he said. "In fact, she gave her life for him."
He also praised the victims' sister, 10-year-old Noelle, who ran to her home from the beach and raised the alarm - emergency services were on the scene very quickly.
The church was filled to overflowing for the Mass. Canon Hegarty gave an indication of the void and pain which the deaths have caused in the family and community when he said the whole parish was in mourning and he had "never felt so inadequate" at a funeral.
He added that he had no words to relieve the burden and he could only hope that he would be an instrument through which God could console the grieving family.
At the Offertory, the gifts which were brought to the altar included samples of Tisha's art - she was a promising artist who spent many hours sketching. Some of Niall's collection of cars and tractors were also brought to the altar.
As the gifts were delivered, a local musician, Kieran Munnelly, played an air on a flute. The Belmullet choir and the choir of the Convent of Mercy, where Tisha was due to enter her Junior Certificate year in September, sang during the ceremony. The principal of the Senior National School, Mr Pat Cafferkey, recited the poem Footprints in their memory.
Tisha and Niall Murphy were buried in white coffins at Kilgalligan, their family's ancestral graveyard.