Funeral hears Leaving Cert student (18) who died in Co Tipperary collision already bought her Debs dress
The Rockwell College student, died following the incident at Kilaldry Bridge in the townland of Kilmoyler on Thursday night.
Advertisement
Gardai were alerted after Ms English failed to return to her home in Clonmel on Thursday night.
Her oak coffin adorned with a white and pink Gerbera and Lily floral wreath, was carried into St John the Baptist Church, Powerstown, Clonmel, Co Tipperary for midday Requiem Mass to the strains of Somewhere over the Rainbow.
At the end of the ceremony her younger sister Mia described Brónagh as her, ' "best friend and beautiful sister. Having Brónagh as my sister was really the dream. We will always remember you Brónagh, your gorgeous pretty smile we will always carry with us, day by day and mile by mile. You will never know how much we miss you. Rest in peace up there in heaven.'
Her emotional father, Michael, supported by his wife Danielle, also spoke about their eldest child and the last time they saw her.
Advertisement
'This is an absolutely dreadful time. Bronagh left the house at 8pm last Thursday. Studied all day, did a maths grind. She told her mum she would see her in 20 minutes and that was the end of our Bró last Thursday. She was a wonderful child we loved her to pieces.
"Myself and Danielle noticed something special about Bróagh in the early days in fact we thought there was something wrong.. She was too normal. She had something.
"She lived in the now and in the present. She was in the moment. She communicated with you. She was just a wonderful child. She asked for nothing and got everything.
'To her best friends 'The Rats' I'm not sure where that name came from, they spent every weekend in our house. Brónagh loved her six years in Rockwell. These are horrific times. To her two wonderful brothers, she is so proud of you and her sister Mia also.'
Advertisement
Fr Peter Ahearne, who concelebrated the funeral mass with 10 other priests, told mourners: "Our hearts are weighed down by grief for Brónagh. We gather in great sorrow and shock as tragedy leaves us speechless.
'All our hearts go out in sympathy to Bronagh's family. At a time like this any words that we can use cannot really ease the pain and trauma they are going through. Their world of happiness has been shattered.
'A sword will pierce your own soul too, and this symbolises the great shock and pain the family are going through. Parents take their children to the church to be baptised.
"Brónagh for her family, was a sacred gift. She radiated joy, love, joy and friendship for family and friends. When a young person dies, an image of flowers comes to mind.
Advertisement
'There are always flowers which blossom before others, they have come to perfection, they are symbols of love.
"When young people die young something similar takes place. Brónagh in her short life, has achieved perfection. Brónagh left her family some wonderful memories. She was generous and shared her friendship with so many."
Fr Ahearne recounted how his many memories of the 18-year-old 'started way, way back'.
He recalled: 'She came to church when she was young, she came to Sunday School with her Mum Danielle, she made her first penance, first communion and confirmation here.
Advertisement
"She was good at coming to mass. This church is her spiritual home. In her short years, she lived a full life. She loved sport, dancing and giving her time to her friends. She was looking forward to sitting her Leaving Cert, She had her Debs dress picked out. She had her own dreams for the future.
'These are moments when we need hope, her life was cut down at a young age. Moments when the normal cycle of life is interrupted these are times when we need love and strength. Brónagh will live on in the minds and hearts of her loved ones always.'
Ireland
Pensioner (83) recovered 'sensitive' data from wom...
Read More
Her family members brought up gifts which symbolised the Leaving Cert student's life. Photos of her with her family were presented as mourners heard she brightened up every family party with her smile and sense of fun.
Other gifts included a pair of ski goggles, as she loved the slopes from where she had just returned, a fishing rod which represented a wonderful holiday to the Amazon Rainforest where she caught 13 fish and became famous amongst the locals, dancing shoes as she had a flare for ballroom dancing, her school jumper, as Rockwell was a special place for her, and photos of great friends.
Ms English is survived by her parents Michael and Danielle, sister Mia, brothers Mikey and David, grandparents Greta and Donie Ormonde and Carmel and her recently deceased husband John English. The teenager was laid to rest in the adjoining church graveyard.
President Michael D Higgins was represented by his aide-de-camp.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
11-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
Rid your home of flies for good with 3-ingredient DIY trap
Flies can be a nuisance, but cleaning fan Lily has shared an easy homemade trap that will help keep them at bay - and you'll only need three ingredients Flies can be a common nuisance during the balmy summer months as windows and doors are left ajar to let in the fresh air. If you're grappling with flies this summer, a cleaning enthusiast has shared a simple homemade remedy that will ensnare them for good. Lily, known as Clean with Lily on TikTok, outlined two remedies you can utilise. A bonus of these solutions is that the ingredients required are likely already in your kitchen cupboards, reports the Express. So next time you see flies swarming around you home, grab the vinegar, olive oil, and some lemon juice. Here's what you'll need to do. How to trap flies Lily utilised a clean jar - a mug can also be used - filling it with equal parts of olive oil, lemon juice, and white vinegar. Then place a piece of cling film over the top of the jar, poking some small holes in with a knife. The scent of the solution will lure small flies into the jar, with the olive oil trapping them in the liquid. The addition of cling film will also prevent the flies from escaping back into the room, reports the Express. The white vinegar will help draw flies into the solution, especially if you're dealing with fruit flies. Vinegar contains acetic acid, a component of the scent that decaying fruit releases, making it attractive to flies seeking food. Clegg's Pest Control explained that flies may avoid both low and high concentrations of vinegar, so you need to ensure that the solution is balanced. While vinegar won't kill the flies, the viscosity of the olive oil will lead them to become trapped. The olive oil disrupts the liquid's surface tension, leading to the flies sinking, drowning, and ultimately dying. However, if you're contending with larger house flies or blowflies, they may be less likely to fall into the trap. Incorporating lemon can also help to disorientate a fly's senses. Lemons emit a potent, sharp aroma of citrus oils like limonene, which flies find off-putting. Lemon serves as an effective natural fly deterrent due to flies' distaste for citrus. Given that lemon also emits a strong scent, flies will invariably steer clear of them, while the vinegar continues to lure them in.
Spectator
04-07-2025
- Spectator
We should be outraged by Lily Allen's ‘four or five' abortions
If we want to understand why thousands of women a year in England and Wales have an abortion – 251,377 in 2022, so probably way more now – we could do worse than consider the musings of the singer Lily Allen on the subject. In a podcast chat with her friend Miquita, this took a musical turn. She began singing to the tune of Frank Sinatra's 'My Way': 'Abortions I've had a few… but then again… I can't remember exactly how many'. Giggling, she continued: 'I can't remember. I think maybe like, I want to say four or five.' Miqiuta – a woman of whom I'd never heard – observed that, whaddya know, she'd had about five too: 'I'm so happy I can say that and you can say it and no one came to shoot us down, no judgement. We've had about the same amount of abortions.' As far as Lily is concerned, she used to 'get pregnant all the time'. Belatedly she had an IUD coil fitted, which sorted out the problem, but you have to wonder, might she have thought of that earlier? Whatever; she's fine about her abortions and rather impatient with the sort of people who feel they have to justify them. For her it's 'Just: 'I don't want a f***ing baby right now.' Literally: ''Don't want a baby' is enough reason.' And there you have it, folks. I don't think I've ever heard the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 so thoroughly trashed. Sir David Steel, if you're reading, how does it make you feel? Because under the actual legislation, according to the government, 'a pregnancy may be lawfully terminated by a registered medical practitioner, in approved premises, if two medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the abortion is justified under one or more grounds.' Of the grounds it mentions, all but 2 per cent are justified under the following criterion: 'That the pregnancy has not exceeded its 24th week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.' So, two practitioners, likely justified each of Lily's five abortions on the basis that continuing with the pregnancy would have risked injury to her physical or mental health. And in all but a very few cases we're talking about mental health. And now here's proof, if anyone needed it, that absolutely anything, but anything, qualifies. If Lily says she doesn't want to be pregnant, end of. Literally. Sometimes, you have to wonder if the sex education to which young people are subjected in British schools is a bit deficient. Actually scrap that – I think the problem may be with the biology classes. Because the bit of the textbook that describes the foetal journey from zygote to looking like a kidney bean – but with discernibly human characteristics – right up to the curled-up baby that is about to make its way into the world may not have made sufficiently clear that it's a process without any obvious breaks. There isn't a point where the foetus all of a sudden has an existential moment and finds it is human. That, as Peter Jones pointed out in this magazine, was an Aristotle thing; he thought that the foetus sprang into full humanity at 40 days (90 for girls). Perhaps Lily has a similar approach, whereby she feels that the foetus is only human if she says it is. That is, if the pregnancy is wanted. Otherwise, it's an inconvenience. It's this caprice that drives me nuts. A foetus is simply a human being in the process of development and growth. It doesn't become human if it's a wanted pregnancy; it just is. And if you kill it – because, I am afraid, that is what abortion entails – then you're committing a kind of pre-natal homicide. Many people think that it's justifiable in 'crisis' pregnancies, but there's no getting away from it; abortion is a morally weighty act. Obviously abortion is more distressing and more unpleasant to all concerned, including the foetus, if the later pregnancy is advanced, and most abortions happen by ten-weeks' gestation – though over 500 happen after 22 weeks in case of disability. But terminating the life of a prenatal human being is serious; it's not something to do lightly. And it's not something for a bloody girly podcast where neither party seems to understand what's entailed. Miquita described her abortion as her 'contraceptive journey' which makes you wonder whether all that sex education was wasted. After the Antoniazzi amendment was passed the other week, whereby MPs gave women a free pass to do absolutely anything in terms of her own pregnancy right up to birth ('these women should be treated with care and compassion'), I was on a radio programme with a woman journalist who'd had an abortion at over five weeks and declared that she was really troubled by the fact that abortion wasn't decriminalised under the Abortion Act; rather it was allowed in only exceptional circumstances. This, she felt, was a stigma which bothered her. But what this podcast makes clear is that the stigma is illusory, as illusory as the terms of the Abortion Act. Lily doesn't care; she minds that there are weird people out there who think she should. And so this female Moloch went on to see off her 'four or five' pregnancies before finally having two delightful girls, Ethel and Marnie, with her ex-husband. She doesn't see that it's a problem. And that, folks, is why there are up to a quarter of a million abortions a year, and counting, even at a time when contraception is practically forced on teenagers. Lots and lots and lots of people don't think it matters. But it does. PS. The really interesting feature of the report on this on Mail online is that it involves no censure of anyone involved. The Antoniazzi amendment is written up in the article as a liberating development. Readers affected by the issues are invited to get in touch with BPAS, the abortion provider. Once, the Mail would have been outraged. That it apparently isn't, tells us everything.
BreakingNews.ie
11-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Leaving Cert history exam looked 'daunting' and rewarded students 'who avoided rote learning'
A teacher has given his first reaction to this year's Leaving Cert history exams, which students completed on Wednesday afternoon. Jamie Dockery, a history teacher at Tyndall College in Carlow, said the Higher Level paper looked like a "daunting prospect" at first glance. Advertisement "Many will have been surprised not to see questions on Charles Stewart Parnell or the Montgomery Bus Boycott," he said. "Those who placed all their bets on these topics — undoubtedly a sizeable number — will be bitterly disappointed." "However, there was much to be pleased with in this paper. The Documents-Based Question focused on the Jarrow March, a topic most well-prepared students would have covered thoroughly. The sources were engaging, and while the contextualisation question – asking whether the march was a failure – was slightly challenging, it was certainly manageable. "The 'Movements for Reform' section featured an interesting question comparing the successes of Michael Davitt and James Larkin, two reformers with shared ideals but from different eras. "Eamon de Valera was widely expected to appear on the paper, given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of his death—and 'the Long Fellow' didn't disappoint. The question was broad, covering his role in the Treaty negotiations, the Civil War, and World War II. Advertisement "Speaking of WWII, its appearance in an Irish context was welcome, as it hadn't featured since 2021. The topic 'The United States and the Wider World, 1945–1989' proved tricky, with challenging questions on the American Dream and the role of religion in American life. However, the inclusion of LBJ will have come as a relief to many. "As with last year's paper, women featured prominently, with questions on Isabella Tod, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Bernadette Devlin, Mary Robinson, Sylvia Meehan, Simone de Beauvoir, and Nadine Gordimer. Overall, this was an exam that rewarded the candidates who avoided rote learning, who didn't cut corners with their revision, and who were able to think on their feet." Mr Dockery said the Ordinary Level exam will have been generally well received by students and teachers, with the Jarrow March also the focus of the Documents Based Question. "In fact, the Ordinary Level exam had many similar (and in some instances, the same) questions to its Higher Level version across the entire exam – I very much welcome the Higher and Ordinary Level exam having similar questions, particularly considering that the average Senior History groups will have Higher and Ordinary Level students learning together in the one class. Advertisement Lifestyle Leaving Cert: French exam used 'challenging vocabu... Read More "When teaching Ordinary Level students, my advice to them is always to focus mainly on the Case Studies for each topic and the key personalities. Candidates who followed this approached will have been satisfied with this exam. "Many of the main personalities from Irish History found their way into the exam including O'Connell; Yeats; Davitt; Roscommon man Douglas Hyde; Collins, Cosgrave and de Valera. Women will also well represented in the guise of Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington and Countess Markievicz and Maureen O'Hara, among others. Eagle-eyed students will notice that many of these personalities appeared in the 2024 edition. "The 'Europe and the Wider World' topics were also varied and offered the well-prepared candidate the opportunity to do well. Just like in the Higher Level paper, the United States topic was not without its challenges, but the inclusion of the Montgomery Bus Boycott here means that the vast majority of candidates should be fine. It was interesting that the Star Wars question included the parenthesis (the Strategic Defence Initiative) to hopefully discourage answers about Luke Skywalker (as opposed to – correctly – Ronald Reagan!) "As a History teacher, my hope for any exams is that it will give the diligent and hardworking student a chance to show off all they know, and this exam certainly did that."
