‘Mam, Dad and Niamh were lovely people to us’

‘Mam, Dad and Niamh were lovely people to us. We will never forget what happened Tuesday morning. We didn’t think it was going to happen like this. In every way, they protected us and loved us. All our love, from Cian, Brianna and Aaron.’

These were the simple, heartfelt words, penned by ten year-old Cian O’Regan that he so beautifully delivered over the coffins of his doting parents, Bryan and Johanna, both 31-years-old, and little Niamh, the 21 month-old sister he loved so much.

The brave young man with hazel brown eyes and a broad, freckled face was one of the few who managed to find words to express the collective grief shown by over a thousand mourners as he stood bravely before them and read his sad, short poem.

His doting Mam died trying to save her daughter and husband in an accidental fire that blazed through their home at Ballybeg, Waterford, early on Tuesday morning last. All three perished in the tragedy. Only the couple’s three older children, Cian, aged ten, Brianna, aged seven, and Aaron, aged five, survived.

The close-knit family were just days away from moving into a beautiful, freshly-painted bungalow a few miles away in Portlaw, when tragedy struck.

They’d even packed up most of their belongings.

Johanna’s brother, Liam O’Keeffe, told those gathered for the heartbreaking funeral Mass how his sister and her youngest brother, Paul, didn’t exactly get along when they were younger. “I think it had something to do with the fact that Paul cut the top of one of her fingers with the hedge clippers,” he quipped.

The dead woman’s other bother, Michael, loved her regular phonecalls, Liam added. “She was a great one for making the calls, at all hours, if we had a family get together. She would ring him and tell him afterwards, ‘Kipper, you are my favourite brother.’ It would make the rest of us quite jealous”.

Another brother, Tommy, recalled the uncanny way Johanna had of getting her way: “Maybe with her loud voice or with the way she would look at you.”

Liam said Johanna was a nurse to her parents, a taxi driver and the back-bone of the family.

“This love is evident as she lost her life trying to save two of the most important people to her — Bryan her husband and her youngest child, Niamh.

“Michael is really sorry that you won’t have a mobile phone with you in heaven and Paul did not mean to cut the top off your finger,” he added, barely holding back his grief.

Bryan’s Dad, Pa O’Regan, said he’d not only lost a son, but a best friend.

“He was a very proud Waterford man and loved following his county team. His other great love was greyhounds.

“Myself, Bryan and Cian travelled all over the country coursing. He was a lovely son, a jolly lad. I’ve not just lost a son, but also a best friend,” added Mr O’Regan.

The tragedy which unfolded at the family home in the early hours of Tuesday morning has not just gripped the Waterford community in which they lived. It has touched a nation, Parish priest at St Saviour’s, Fergal MacEoinin, said.

But he appealed to the heartbroken masses who gathered to remember the happiness the couple and their beautiful baby girl had brought, rather than dwelling on the tragic way they died, in a fire at their home, after a day spent enjoying the sunshine at the sea.

“If any tribute is to be made to Johanna and Bryan and to Niamh, in their sainthood, it is that we don’t think of them as victims. They are not victims of some cruel plot or an awful death.

“They are people who died in an awful way, and it was quick. All death is quick in the end. One moment we have life, the next we don’t. We don’t have answers to that.

“The joy that they brought and the happiness they brought into this life should be remembered, along with the children they have given life to, who will be living testaments to them.

“They will also carry within them a living burden that we hope to share and help to carry. It’s not a burden we can lift away, but one we can share through love and care,” he added.

It hadn’t rained in almost a fortnight. But as the three coffins were carried from St Saviour’s Church, a light rain misted over. It was as if the heavens themselves were moved by the misty-eyed congregation so touched by the lives being commemorated that day.

Letters of condolence from President Mary McAleese have been delivered to the two families and both are delighted and comforted by her kind wishes.

Mayor of Waterford, Cllr Hilary Quinlan will today officially launch a trust fund to help the surviving O’Regan children. Donations can be made at any Bank of Ireland branch to account 40559976, sort code 90-62-16.