Tommy Tiernan Show recap: Louise James on losing five family members at Buncrana Pier
Louise James who lost five family members in the Buncrana Pier tragedy in 2016. Picture: Tommy Tiernan Show/RTE.
An emotional episode of The Tommy Tiernan Show on Saturday night explored loss, sadness, hope, and finding one’s place in the world.
Guests on the night included Louise James, Cormac and Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, and Eleanor Tiernan.
Tiernan’s first guest was Louise James, who shared her tragic experience of losing her entire family in the Buncrana Pier tragedy in 2016.
James described returning from a hen party when she learned of the news that several of her family members had died.
She was at the airport when she said a feeling came over her that something was wrong, not long after speaking on the phone with her sister, and said that when the plane landed, she saw the news that a black SUV had gone into the water at Buncrana Pier flash up on a passenger's phone.
James lost her two sons, her sister, her mother and her partner when their SUV slipped on algae and slid into the water. Her partner, Sean, had taken them all out for dinner, and they had gone to play in the park before going to the pier to watch the sunset.
James’ four-month-old daughter Rioghnach-Ann was the sole survivor.
In what was James’ first public interview and first time speaking publicly about the tragedy, she spoke about the emotional aftermath of losing her family, the guilt she lives with and how she has stayed strong for her daughter.
“You're on your own with a four-month-old baby. The person that you want to talk to is no longer there,” she said.
“The person who you want to give you a hug to tell you everything's going to be okay is no longer there. You think that can be your partner or your mum, but when the two of them are gone, you're left standing, going, ‘What do I do? Who do I turn to? Who do I talk to?’ You're left talking to a four-month-old baby, crying in the middle of the night, and sometimes I don't sleep. I walked the floors.”
She spoke of the guilt she feels for being away when the tragedy happened, but acknowledged that she cannot feel guilty forever.
“I feel guilty every day, and then I feel guilty for feeling guilty because of Rionaghac-Ann. I feel guilty for going away, for being away, because it might not have happened if I had been there,” she says.
“But then you have to stop and tell yourself that. What's happened has happened, and you can't change it. And you can't feel guilty forever.
“At some stage you have to draw a line and say, and be brave and go, ‘enough's enough. This is me. This is my new chapter’.” James also spoke of her daughter’s grief of having not known her brothers, who she said often says, 'that’s not fair that they got to know me, but I didn't get to know them’.
Opening up about the day of the funeral, she said: “That was hard because the house didn't empty. Thousands of people came, they paid their respects. The house never emptied; we didn't get a chance to breathe. You know, if there weren't people, there was media trying to take pictures. You felt like you had no privacy. You were just invaded with people trying to take pictures of the coffins.”
Speaking about the difficulty of saying her final goodbyes to her two sons, sister, mother and partner, she described the feeling of just wanting to keep them forever.
“Taking them to the cemetery is terrible. You don't want to leave the cemetery then, like it's hard having a wake for one, but when you're having a wake for five, it's a different story,” she said.
James highlighted her efforts to honour her family through a charity walk and gala ball in Buncrana, raising funds for the RNLI.
She emphasised the importance of celebrating her family's lives and thanking the community for their support.
A charity walk, starting at the park where her kids last played, will take place on March 22, and a gala ball will be held at the Ebrington Hotel on May 8.
For more information, people can visit Buncrana Pier Tragedy on Facebook and Instagram.
Tiernan’s second guests of the night were father-and-son duo Cormac and Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, who reflected on life and playing music together.
Cormac Ó Beaglaoich shared his admiration for his father's honesty and emotional expression in music, which he said he believes is essential for a musician.
He discussed the joy of working with his father, especially on the TV programme Slí na mBeaglaoich, praising his emotional playing.
“He’s a great father, great musician, singer, very loving. He did his best for all of us, and I learned a lot from him, and I wouldn't be here without him, like in terms of music, what I'm doing in my life. So very grateful to be, to be born into the family I have been,” he said.
He went on to discuss the concept of honesty in music and how it reflects human emotions, explaining that tunes are like blockchains, capturing meanings, feelings, and historical events.
Inquiring about the financial aspects of being a traditional musician, Tiernan asks about their career, with Cormac explaining that he makes a living by playing solo gigs, about 10 to 20 gigs a year, as well as living out of a camper van for seven years.
He mentioned other income sources, such as running a guest house and a school in Dingle, and offering courses on various instruments. He emphasised the importance of balancing work and love for music to avoid losing passion for it.
Speaking about losing his two brothers and his sister, Breanndán reflected on the natural process of birth and death.
“I'm at that stage of life. I do my crying, I do my emotion, and I just get through it,” he said.
“I was born in an Ireland that faced birth and death in almost the same way. Your first breath and your last breath, your life is that between those two breaths, and it's a natural part of life, and without accepting it, I think that's where the problem starts, because you kind of prioritise your own pain.
“You just have to let the pain, live it and play your way through it, run your way through it, swim your way through it and just accept it. It's the most natural thing in the world. Again, easier said than done.”
The pair played a tune about a boat called The Beauty and went on to play three polkas from West Kerry before concluding their chat with Tiernan.
Tiernan’s final guest of the night was his cousin, stand-up comedian Eleanor Tiernan.
He introduced Eleanor as his father's brother's daughter, clarifying the family relationship.
The pair discussed the sense of sociability and storytelling within the Tiernan family, inspired by their ability to socialise and tell stories, mentioning a different kind of storytelling, a weirdness, abstractness, and an alternative point of view in their work.
Tiernan acknowledged her intelligence and fearless approach to stand-up comedy, not playing down to the audience, with his cousin going on to talk about her experience in stand-up.
“The circuit in the UK, it's bloody brilliant. You can work, and you can go into rooms and be on with… the talent and the intelligence that you're talking about,” she said.
“I get to be on bills with some of the best talent in the world, and it's just brilliant to be holding my own in that world.
“And I have nights where, you know, I do sets in the Comedy Store, central London. It's like a high speed broadband in terms of the electricity in the room and with the crowd, and I come off, and you might have another gig to go to straight away afterwards, and you're walking through the tube station, and you just feel like ‘I'm f***ing here in this city, nobody. You can't say I wasn't here tonight. I f***ing did it. I laid it out’.”
She also touched on her experience of doing a master's degree in sustainability, which she said has given her a new perspective on the world and reinforced their appreciation for the comedy circuit, and discussed the unsustainable nature of neoliberal capitalism and its impact on society.
Tiernan, who is almost 18 years sober, touched on her alcohol addiction and how seeking help changed her outlook on life.
She also shared her struggle with categorising herself and the relief of finally speaking about their sexuality to move forward.
When asked about future plans, Tiernan said she wants to enjoy morning routines and spend more time in nature, concluding the conversation with her cousin informally.
