‘The house just feels empty without her’

THE HEARTBROKEN father of a leaving cert student killed in a bomb blast in Turkey a year ago this weekend says he still expects his bubbly, bright daughter to walk through the door.

Tara Whelan’s parents, Tony and Frances, brothers Frank, 27, and Anton, 26, and sisters, Marianne, 25, and Lisa, 20, will gather with other family and friends in their parish church this Saturday for a memorial mass to celebrate her short, fun-filled life which ended after just 17 years.

Tony Whelan said they’ve been living a nightmare since their daughter died in a bus blast in the resort of Kusadasi. “It really hasn’t been easy, her death has brought us huge loss. It’s hard to imagine that she’s really gone.

“You think she’s still on holidays sometimes and expect to see her around the place soon.

“Tara was such a lively girl, she was always on the go and full of fun and life and the house just feels empty without her.”

Tara had been holidaying in Turkey with twins Lyndsey and Tracey Galgey from Hillview, classmates from the Mercy Convent Secondary School. Tara, whom her father said was “having the time of her life” on the holiday, was travelling into the centre of the resort alone on the morning of July 16 to buy gifts for her family.

“We didn’t really worry when she was going on holidays because Tara was independent, had been well travelled, she was with a lovely group of people and they were all staying together.

“She’d been really looking forward to going then for some reason she had a bit of a change of heart and then she was going again.

“She was a girl that was so bubbly, loved singing and music and was involved in everything from Scór to the local choir, babysitting for people and her work at The Sweep Bar. Herself and her mother were more like best friends.

“She was also very close to her brothers and sisters, all of whom have dark moments when they feel her loss.

“It’s the worst phone call a parent can get to say your child has been killed. It’s hard to describe other than it feels like someone has just taken a piece of you away,”

Tony travelled out to Kusadasi with his family last October to visit the place where his daughter died. He said they are very grateful for the support received in the aftermath of the tragedy, both from within their own community and beyond.

A man arrested in Turkey for the bomb explosion is due to go on trial in the coming months.