Boy, 4, dies in tractor accident

A NORTH KERRY farming community was stunned yesterday by the tragic death of a four-year-old boy in a tractor accident near Abbeydorney.

The child, named locally as Johnny Nolan, from Lixnaw, died after falling from a tractor at about 12.50pm, according to gardaí.

It is understood he had been with his father at the time.

The accident occurred on a narrow country road at Derryrin, just north of Abbeydorney.

Gardaí and medical personnel were immediately called, but he was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to Kerry General Hospital, in Tralee.

He was the son of Thomas and Aisling Nolan, both teachers at Causeway Comprehensive School.

The couple have another son, Micheal, aged two.

Lixnaw parish priest Fr Maurice Brick described the boy’s death as a terrible tragedy and said people’s hearts went out to the bereaved family. “The whole community is bleeding. Everyone is shocked and stunned,” he said.

It was the second tragedy this week to affect a farm family in the north Kerry and west Limerick area.

On Monday, 10-year-old Jeremiah Carmody, who had been tending cattle on a road alongside his family’s farm in Athea, died after being struck by a van.