Parents of boy killed in car crash urge families to say ‘I love you’ more often

The parents of a teenager killed in a car crash two weeks ago have made an emotional appeal for families to say "I love you" to one another.

Robbie Steele, 19, died on October 3, just half a mile from his home in Midleton, Co Cork.

His parents Ollie and Aileen spoke about their tragic loss on The Ray D’Arcy Show yesterday.

Dad Ollie said: “You read these things in the paper and you hope it doesn’t come to your doorstep, but it came to our doorstep last Friday week.”

Aileen and Ollie contacted Today FM after they heard a segment about parents not verbally expressing their feelings of love for their children.

Ollie hoped their story would make parents “catch their child by the hand and just say I love you” because you never know when it could be the last time. “Parents should turn around and look at what they have,” he said.

Mum Aileen recalled her last words to Robbie, and was glad they were words of love.

She said: “I gave Robbie a pat on his left-hand shoulder and I just said: ‘You’re a fine handsome lad and I love ya.’ That was normal in our house.”

Aileen revealed her son used to joke about saying the words, but always said them back. “At the end of the day, he loved it,” she said. “Life is busy but you always have time for a hug.”

Ollie talked about his son’s love of life, and how proud he was that Robbie was so active.

The teenager was a student of the National Maritime College of Ireland and was also involved in many sports, including hurling, football, rugby, and boxing.

Ollie said the young man would “catch you and give you a big squeeze. He was a big lad — he’d nearly crack your bones when he’d give you this big bear hug”.

The grieving father also revealed he never got to say goodbye to his son. His last words to Robbie were “talk later”.

Ollie said he was very grateful to the whole community for their support at this terrible time, adding his family is “very strong” and is trying to cope with their grief.

He said: “The community just rallied around us and this lovely boy that we had.”