Young parents perish in Irish Army base fire

TRAGEDY struck in the early hours of the New Year when the parents of two young boys died in a house fire at the Curragh Army Camp in Co Kildare.

The couple, 25-year-old Darren Hanley and his partner Amanda Murphy, 23, were parents of two young boys, three-year-old Tiernan and baby Ceadan, who is just seven weeks old.

The fire broke out at the semi-detached house at McMurrough Hill in the Curragh Army Camp in the early hours of yesterday morning.

It is understood Mr Hanley — who was a past member of the Defence Forces based in the Curragh but who more recently worked in construction — and Ms Murphy had been celebrating New Year’s Eve earlier in the night at a function in the Camp.

Their two young boys were staying at another house in the Curragh with Darren’s parents, while Amanda’s mother Mary, who lived with the couple and their children in the house, was with friends elsewhere in the Camp.

Mary Murphy is the ‘overholder’ of the house devastated by the fire, as her father Dixie, who passed away in recent years, was a member of the Defence Forces.

The Control Room at Newbridge Fire Station received an emergency call alerting them to the blaze at 3.15am. Two units of the fire brigade were sent from Newbridge, while another unit travelled to the fire from Monasterevin. Another unit of the fire brigade, from the Curragh Fire Service, was first on the scene at 3.19am.

It took the fire services more than an hour to bring the fire under control, while the bodies of the two victims were discovered in an upstairs bedroom.

Four ambulances also attended the scene from Naas, and it was 6.20am before the last unit of the fire brigade left the area, which was then preserved for technical examination.

The bodies were later taken to Naas General Hospital for a post mortem yesterday, which was conducted by a local pathologist.

Gardaí are investigating whether the fire started in the kitchen.

Flowers were laid close to the burnt-out house yesterday.

The Defence Force’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Jim Sreenan and the local Brigadier General Pat O’Sullivan met with Mary Murphy and other family members yesterday afternoon to express their condolences.

It is believed Ms Murphy worked in a local shop prior to her pregnancy. Mr Hanley’s father Harry is still a member of the Defence Forces and lives in the Curragh with his wife.

Army Chaplain Fr Pat McEvoy said both the Hanley and the Murphy families had a long tradition of involvement in the military, and those living in the Curragh were “numbed” by the deaths of the couple.

“People are devastated and numbed that we have lost two young people like that,” he said.

“Everyone is stunned and very affected by their deaths. There is a real family spirit within the military and there will be a huge outpouring of grief.”

Defence Forces spokesman Commandant Gavin Young said: “The Curragh is a small town in its own right and everyone there has an association with the Defence Forces.

“The family are well known in the local community and for them to lose their lives on New Year’s Day — it’s a sad day.”