Community numbed by young mother's gun death, mourners told

The murder of a young mother in Dublin has raised questions about the direction society is going in, a priest said today.

Fr Pat Littleton was presiding over the funeral of Donna Cleary, the 22-year-old who was killed nearly two weeks ago during a gun attack on a house party in Coolock.

He said people would always remember the few awful minutes in the early hours of Sunday March 5 which had left a young girl dead, her three-year-old son without a mother, and her parents broken-hearted.

“This community numbed... a whole country asking what’s happening to us and where we are going,?” he said.

As hundreds of people packed into St Luke’s church in Kilmore in North Dublin for the Funeral Mass, mourners in another church in North Dublin were attending the funeral of Dwayne Foster, her suspected killer.

Fr Littleton said the families of those who had caused the pain were themselves traumatised and pained.

“As you yourself Peter (Donna’s father) said, ‘No parent sends their son out to do such evil deeds’.”

The parents of Donna Cleary, Kathleen and Peter, and their two sons, Glen and Keith sat up at the front of the church in seats reserved from the family. However, Donna’s three-year-old son Clayton was not present.

Her coffin was surrounded by two framed pictures, one showing her young son and another showing her holding him at Christmas. There was also a toy car and a Next cosmetics gift collection to show her love of fashion.