16-07-2025
Heartache as Ireland's oldest person dies just days before turning 109 as family reveal common plant as key to long life
IRELAND'S oldest woman has passed away at the age of 108, her family have confirmed.
Sarah Coyle from
She was due to turn 109 in just 10 days, on July 24, but her family confirmed she passed away peacefully on July 14.
Her grandson Thomas Galligan said Sarah thanked her family and gave them her "blessing" before she passed.
Sarah is survived by her two children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and her sister Lily.
Her sister Lily, who lives in the
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She is predeceased by eight other siblings, her brother Andy passing away just before turning 101.
She passed away peacefully in her daughter Marian Galligan's
While she was born in Wicklow Sarah, whose maiden name was Byrne, later moved to Tullow with her family.
She was working as a housekeeper in Dublin when she met her husband Tom Coyle at a dance.
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Tom worked as a postman and the couple lived in Dublin raising their children after their 1950 wedding.
However, Tom died in 1986 after suffering a stroke and brain hemorrhage and Sarah moved in with her daughter shortly afterwards.
Sarah lost her sight in 1957 at the age of 40 after suffering trauma to the head.
Missing her sight the woman developed a love of radio and particularly enjoyed listening to
SECRET TO LONG LIFE
Sarah was a keen gardener and a particular plant has even been credited in giving her such a long life.
Her daughter Marian Galligan told The Irish Times her mother would collect the first nettles of every spring.
She would then include them in her cabbage.
Marian said: "She used to say, 'that will purify your blood'.'
Despite her blindness Sarah loved her garden and laid guide wires to tend to it.
Having been born just weeks after the 1916 Easter Rising, Sarah had vivid memories of some of history's most important periods.
She recalled the Black and Tans rounding up everyone called James in her area, her father included, to identify a man who had shot one of theirs.
Her father was taken up the mountains but returned home safe hours later.
Sarah also remembers living through The War of Independence and the British control of Ireland.
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Sarah passed away on Monday
