'Inseparable' step-sisters buried in Limerick

Two teenage girls who were described as “inseparable” in life have been buried side by side in a small Co Limerick graveyard.

The village of Kilteely in Co Limerick came to a complete standstill today as more than 1,000 mourners came to pay their last respects to step-sisters Leanne Miller and Robyn O’Riordan.

Both 15 year-old girls lost their lives in a tragic crash last weekend as they were returning home from a teenage disco.

The Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Dr Dermot Clifford, broke off a holiday to preside over a joint concelebrated mass in the Church of St Patrick and St Bridget in Kilteely.

A loudspeaker system was erected outside the church and an overflow car-park was provided in a nearby field to accommodate hundreds of mourners who were unable to get into the church.

Fr Tom Egan who celebrated the mass said the girls, who considered themselves as sisters, were inseparable in every aspect of their lives.

“They have been described in newspaper reports as step-sisters but in fact they were sisters and there was no step. They were even closer than twins – they were inseparable.”

In his homily, Fr Egan spoke of the teenagers’ passion for fashion and of the joy and good humour they brought to the lives of everyone they touched.

“Every time they were seen together the fashions were perfect, the make-up was perfect and the smile that went with all that was the icing on the cake.”

Mourners were led by Leanne’s mother, Louise Miller and her partner Ben O’Riordan, and Robyn’s mother, Martina, at today's joint funeral mass. Many students also came from Laurel Hill and Scoil Carmel secondary schools in Limerick where both girls had recently completed their Junior Certificate exams.

Fr Egan told mourners that the entire community had been completely devastated by the tragedy, which claimed the two young lives.

“Today it’s fair to say we are gutted. There’s nothing left but the frame around us – everything inside has collapsed. It has to be that way – they were so much part of life and love that it’s fair to say we are all gutted,” said Fr Egan.

Following the funeral mass, Leanne Miller and Robyn O’Riordan were laid to rest side by side in the small cemetery across the road from the church in Kilteely.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old man who died in a separate road traffic accident in Co Limerick at the weekend was also buried today.

John Roche of Tournafulla, Co Limerick, was the sole occupant of a van, which crashed into a wall just half a mile from his home last Sunday morning.