Vigil for four young people killed in Clonmel crash to take place this evening
Four individual flowers and candles are seen amongst tributes left near the scene in Clonmel, Co Tipperary where four young people died in a car crash on Friday. Picture: Damien Storan/PA Wire
A vigil will be held in Clonmel later tonight to remember the four young people who were killed in a crash in the town on Friday.
Zoey Coffey, 18, from Kilsheelan, Grace McSweeney, 18, and her 24-year-old brother Luke McSweeney, from Clonmel, and Nicole Murphy, 18, from Ballypatrick died when the car they were travelling in crashed near the entrance to the Hillview Sports Club on the Mountain Road at approximately 7.30pm on Friday evening.Â
It is understood the vehicle went out of control amid heavy rainfall and subsequently overturned.
Grace McSweeney and Zoey Coffey are past pupils of Presentation College in Clonmel, while Nicole Murphy attended the Loreto Secondary School in the town. Luke McSweeney is a past pupil of Clonmel High School.
Grace, Nicole and Zoey were Leaving Certificate students who had only received their exam results earlier on Friday. They were heading to an exam results night celebration when the fatal crash took place.
“Today, our school and our town are covered in a cloud of sadness and devastation,” said principal of Presentation Secondary School Michael O’Loughlin.
He said that the teenagers, having received their exam results, "were about to embark on a new chapter in their lives.”
“A day of celebration is now replaced by unbearable grief and a sense of great loss for our local community," he said in a statement on behalf of the school.
"Our school community is in mourning today."
Loreto School Principal Anne McGrath said the Clonmel community was still coming to terms with the shocking news.
“We are mourning the loss of our Leaving Certificate student Nicole Murphy," she said.Â
“We also remember the two students Zoey Coffey and Grace McSweeney and her brother Luke."
She said that Friday's celebrations had been replaced by "unbearable grief and a sense of loss for the whole local community."
Speaking on Saturday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said "the thoughts of the whole country" were with the victims, their school, their families, and the community of Clonmel.
"Leaving Cert results night should mark the beginning of a world of opportunities for young people. It’s a milestone on the road from childhood to adulthood," he said.
"For young lives, so full of possibility, to be cut short in this way is truly devastating and heartbreaking. The whole nation mourns them."
Echoing the Taoiseach's remarks, President Michael D Higgins said: "The hearts of all parents and relatives, indeed the whole community, will have gone out to the families of Zoey Coffey, Nicole Murphy and Luke and Grace McSweeney, who lost their lives in a traffic accident in Co Tipperary."
President Higgins said the grief that has been expressed by the community was "nearly unbearable".Â
He passed on his deepest sympathies to "their families, their whole community, those in their year in school and the whole school, it's pupils and management.”Â
A vigil for the Zoey Coffey, Nicole Murphy, Grace McSweeney and Luke McSweeney will take place at 6.30pm tonight at Kickham Plaza in Clonmel.
A prayer vigil will take place in Kickham Plaza, led by the local clergy and the Mayor of Clonmel, Richie Molloy.
On Monday at 10.30am, a Mass in their honour will be offered and broadcast on RTÉ News Now, according to Father Michael Toomey, who is a chaplain at CBS High School.
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