Tallaght killings leave a nation frightened at their magnitude 

A 'dark cloud' descended over the community, as locals have been left reeling, trying to explain to children that their classmates are gone

Young friends hug each other at the memorial for  Lisa Cash and her younger twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, in Tallaght. Gardaí continue their investigations this morning into all three deaths. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins 

When Morning Ireland segued as usual into his show, Ryan Tubridy's voice threatened to break down several times as he talked about events at the weekend, particularly the violent death of a teenager and her twin siblings.

“The detail is too horrible,” he says. “It’s too frightening. It’s too cruel. It’s too unfair.” 

Used to discussing horrific events, even he struggled like the rest of us with the magnitude of what occurred in Tallaght over the weekend.

Twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley celebrating their communion with their sister Lisa Cash. Picture: Garda Press Office

Tallaght is a sprawling suburb of Dublin, its population greater than Waterford City’s, and not far off Galway City’s.

All of the estates had the same Monday morning air about them, even Rossfield — where the horrific events had unfolded.

However, the first sense that something is wrong is the Garda Technical Bureau van that drives down Brookfield Road and turns onto Rossfield Avenue at around 11am.

It’s not even 36 hours since the appalling incident, when emergency services were called to attend the scene a few kilometres east of Tallaght village.

A whole section of that road remains closed off, and there’s a significant garda presence still on site.

This is where three young people were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning: Lisa Cash (18) and her twin brother and sister eight-year-olds Christy and Chelsea Cawley.

It’s tragedy on a such a massive scale that people are struggling to come to terms with it. They will struggle to come to terms with it for a long while to come.

As locals leave their homes to go about their daily business, there is a reticence to say too much about it.

“Horrific,” one woman who’s going to do her daily shop tells me. 

I can’t get my head around it. That poor family, I really can’t imagine.

Another man in his early 20s says he can’t believe what’s happened. “My heart goes out to them,” he says. “What can you say? It’s awful.” 

From Rossfield Avenue, it’s only a minute or two’s walk to the local church, St Aidan’s.

On the entrance to the grounds, a sign reads: “Our church is open. You’re welcome to say a prayer or light a candle. Please pray for healing in our community and for the souls of Christy, Chelsea, and Lisa.” 

Parish priest Father Bill O’Shaughnessy would later describe a “dark cloud” over their community, as locals have been left reeling, describing how difficult it would be to explain to school children that their classmates were gone.

Lighting candles

Passing the church a number of times, you can see people go in in twos and threes. There is an overwhelming sense of shock, and of sadness, among people as they go in to light a candle.

Next to the church are the two primary schools — St Brigid’s Junior National School and St Aidan’s Senior National School.

Just after 11am, the classes are on their break and dozens of children are running about and playing in the yard.

There are two more children who should be running around with them, who should have woke up on Monday and headed to school.

And there’s another teenager who should be looking ahead at all the opportunities ahead of her after finishing secondary school.

There’s something striking, something deeply unsettling, about going onto a school’s website to see details of back-to-school arrangements and the lovely wholesome events that happen in every school up and down the country, alongside their statements about what has happened.

Community left in shock 

Tomás Hayes, the principal of St Aidan’s SNS said everyone is deeply saddened by what had happened and their thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the deceased.

“As a school, our priority will be to take every step to ensure that the needs of our students and their families are met, at this challenging time,” he said. 

We will be providing support to pupils and school staff to help them deal with this tragedy, and have requested the support of the National Education Psychological Service in this respect.

To see these kinds of messages on school websites alongside details of a sports day, of a school’s uniform policy, it’s unfathomable.

A few minutes then around the corner is St Aidan’s Community School, a secondary where Lisa Cash attended and sat her Leaving Cert last year.

Local school children place balloons and flowers at the memorial for the three siblings, at Rossfield Avenue, Tallaght. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Principal Kevin Shortall spoke of a quiet, beautiful, dilligent, and hard-working student on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, who’d been a great support for her friends and had worked hard to get through her Leaving Cert while having to contend with all that missed class time due to Covid-19.

“She was the most honest and genuine person, full of intelligence, no drama,” he said.

She was hugely, highly regarded. She was a lovely, lovely person. She was a lovely big sister to her siblings. She was a person you could trust.

Monday morning was bright and sunny, which stood out in its contrast to the early hours of a rainy Sunday morning when such an unspeakable, dreadful tragedy was visited upon this family, upon this community.

To access the nearby ABA preschool, which caters for preschool children with autism and related disorders, parents must drive onto Rossfield Avenue. Their left turn to bring them to the preschool is right by where the gardaí have cordoned off the road.

As parents bringing their children in for classes arrive yesterday, so does a Garda car, denoting it as part of the armed response unit.

These parents cannot fail to see the cordon, see the Garda cars, be reminded of what transpired here, something that could barely be contemplated in their worst nightmares.

Locals who recognised the family, those who knew them, will continue to pass the house regularly as it is literally the avenue that links the main road outside to the rest of the estate.

Children who live in that direction will have to pass it on their way home from school today for many days to come, with some never forgetting the classmates they’ve lost.

For friends and family of the deceased, they will remember it forever.

In the immediate aftermath, it is raw. People are in shock. They’re united in grief. 

But it’s already clear the ripples of this horrific event will persist for quite some time to come.