'How could this be happening?': Grief in Tallaght as Chelsea, Christy and Lisa laid to rest
The coffins of Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, are carried from St Aidan's Church, Brookfield, Tallaght, following their funeral service. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
“Bereft of words, all of us hold the same question: How could this be happening?” Those remarks read out by Father Paul O’Driscoll at the funeral of twins Christy and Chelsea Cawley, eight, and their sister Lisa Cash, 18, on Friday went to the heart of the matter.
How could it be happening that dozens of children put on t-shirts this morning bearing photos of their late classmates with the message “our little angels”?
How could it be happening that hundreds of friends and family members were gathering in such a manner in such tragic circumstances?
How could it be happening that two children who had recently made their first Holy Communion, and a young woman who had finished her Leaving Cert last year, were now being brought on their final journey?
An air of sadness and grief hung over this small pocket of the west Dublin suburb of Tallaght as a huge crowd turned out for the funeral of Lisa, Christy and Chelsea.
The sight of three horse-drawn carriages waiting outside St Aidan’s Church, and three white coffins laid out inside, was enough to leave a lump in your throat.
Just a few minutes’ walk away from St Aidan’s is Rossfield Avenue and the home where the siblings died following a violent incident in the early hours of Sunday morning.
It has shocked the nation. The loss of three young people in such a manner was unfathomable, grim beyond words. Mere metres away from the church is the primary school the twins had attended. They had just started a new term.
The principal of Lisa’s secondary school had described her as “one of the most honest, genuine young people full of integrity”.
Again, the question was the pertinent one: how could this be happening?
On Friday morning, dozens of messages, flowers and tributes were still visible outside the family home. From 9am onwards people began to gather at the church just around the corner awaiting the funeral mass.
So many were wearing the “our little angels” t-shirts, young and old. People embraced as they arrived. They shook hands. They hugged. They cried. And they waited.
The funeral notice had described them as the beloved and cherished son and daughters of Margaret and the late Andy Cash and Billy Cawley.
A floral tribute outside the church bore a photo of the family and the message “Back with our daddy”.
Their mother Margaret was part of the congregation with the children’s older sister Margaret and brother Mikey, and they were comforted by friends and family.
Hundreds of people had gathered inside the church and just outside within the grounds as the priest began his opening remarks just after 10am.
Gifts brought to the altar included football gloves for Christy, a teddy bear for Chelsea and a book about Elvis for Lisa.
Multiple large photographs of the trio were placed inside the church, flanked by poems and teddy bears. A car set up to look like the Lightning McQueen character from the animated film Cars was outside, reflecting Christy’s love of cars.
Mourners heard about how Lisa doted on the twins and was the “mammy of her group”, always looking out for her friends.
In his homily, Father O’Driscoll, who is chaplain and parish priest for the Travelling community, singled out their brother Mikey, who was injured in last weekend’s incident and helped to raise the alarm.
He said:
The priest spoke about how crisis can come upon us “without warning” and can shatter our assumptions “about the way the world works”.
Quoting writer Barbara Holmes, Father O’Driscoll said: “The reality that was so familiar to us is gone suddenly, and we don’t know what is happening...
“When the unexpected happens during a communal crisis, we are not alone. We are with friends and neighbours and we all experience the same break in reality. Bereft of words, all of us hold the same question: How could this be happening?” Father O’Driscoll said that we all have a “spark of divinity” within, “a flicker of Holy Fire that can be diminished, but never extinguished”.
Archbishop Dermot Farrell, meanwhile, said in comments read out that it is difficult to “find words to express our shock at the tragedy”.
He quoted from the book of Jeremiah: “Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?”.
The raw emotion felt by those who knew and loved these young people was clear in some of the closing remarks made in the church.
Friends Marie, Mary and Natasha paid tribute to the three siblings, speaking of the heartbreak now inflicted upon their family and on the community. Reading out a poem, Marie said that they had “so much left to give” and to think of “how they lived”.
Music was played throughout the funeral service, with the song 'Wind Beneath My Wings' played at the close as people began to file out of the church.
Carried by friends and family members, the coffins of Lisa, Chelsea and Christy were each placed in the horse-drawn carriages.
As they slowly began to leave the cemetery, mourners filed behind each carriage and placed their hands on the glass.
The cortege then passed by the family home on Rossfield Avenue, before Christy, Chelsea and Lisa were brought on their final journey to Bohernabreena Cemetery to be laid to rest.
The love and affection for these siblings from yesterday’s service was clear. To have lost them is shocking, heartbreaking. How could this be happening?
For a family, and a community, faced with such tragedy, it was these words from Archbishop Farrell that will be all-important going forward: “May those around you be a source of shelter and strength in the weeks and months to come.”
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