‘I’m totally lost without you. I’m broken,’ says Vincent Ryan’s tearful partner

Vincent Ryan’s partner and mother of his baby daughter spoke of their wedding plans at his funeral yesterday.

“I’m totally lost without you. I’m broken,” a tearful Kelly Smyth said when paying tribute to Vincent, who was shot dead outside her house in Finglas, Dublin, last week.

He had been linked with the Real IRA. His brother, Alan, a leading figure in the paramilitary organisation, was also shot dead over three years ago.

Unlike his brother’s funeral, there was no show of paramilitary strength; his family said he would not receive a military funeral and gardaí maintained a significant presence until the burial took place.

The funeral Mass at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Donaghmede was an hour late because of the time it took around 500 mourners to walk with the coffin from Vincent’s’s family home.

The coffin was draped in a tricolour and led by a lone piper. A guard of honour of about 12 young men arched ahead of the cortege, all wearing black trousers, white shirts, and black ties.

Kelly said some people went through their life without finding true love, but she was one of the lucky few.

“You were not only my boyfriend, you were my best friend, my soulmate, and father to our beautiful little girl, Phoenix. I have now lost all of that and our little girl has lost her daddy,” she said.

Kelly said Vincent’s dream was to one day open his own barbershop and, anytime they were out, he would look at men’s hair and tell her how he would love to style it.

While he loved motorbikes, music, and watching documentaries, more than anything else he loved his family. Kelly, who had walked ahead of her boyfriend’s coffin pushing her six-week-old daughter, said Vincent was overjoyed when she was born.

“The day Phoenix was born was the happiest day of his life, he loved her more than life itself. We had the perfect little family. We had so much planned for our future. He wanted more kids and wanted us both to get married.”

Sadly, the last conversation they had was about getting married.

“He used to say before he kissed me: ‘This is how I am going to kiss you when we get married.’

“He would dance with me in the bedroom and we would laugh and joke and he would tell me he would get dance lessons for our wedding day.

“I promise to talk to Phoenix about you every single day. She will know how amazing you are. You should be here for her first words, her first steps, her first Christmas and birthday.”

In his homily, parish priest, Fr Gerry Corcoran, said it was so easy to take life for granted.

“We know we all must die, but most of us assume, or at least hope, that it will be when we are old. So, when a young person died suddenly and violently, as Vincent has, it is a stark reminder that we should never take life for granted,” said Fr Corcoran.

“Much has been written and said about Vincent in the media in recent days, but to his family, to those who actually knew him, he was a loving son, partner, father, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend.

“He loved his partner Kelly, and the birth of their baby daughter, Phoenix, just six weeks ago brought great joy and new life to him.”

Mourners walked with the coffin from the church to Fingal Cemetery, where a man played a guitar and sang the national anthem, before the gathering peacefully dispersed.

Earlier, gardaí, who had maintained a tight security ring around the cemetery, refused a family request to put Vincent’s motorbike by his graveside.