Infant Ennis boy who died in traffic accident 'radiated love', funeral hears

Ennis parish priest Fr Tom Ryan said: 'We don’t know why accidents happen but they do. We have lots of questions but we simply don’t have answers.'

Monday's funeral mass took place five days after Hunter Molloy lost his life in a road traffic accident near the Quin Road, Ennis, before lunchtime last Wednesday.

The 18-month-old Ennis boy who died from injuries in a road traffic accident last week “radiated love and lived his life fully”.

They were the words of Ennis parish priest Fr Tom Ryan, who told the Molloy family that Hunter James Molloy received nothing “but love and care from his Mam and Dad, Alisha and Peter”.

At the Mass of the Angels at St Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ennis, family members, relatives and friends wore bright blue t-shirts with an image of Hunter on them to celebrate his short life.

Monday's funeral mass took place five days after Hunter lost his life in a road traffic accident near the Quin Road, Ennis, before lunchtime last Wednesday.

Fr Ryan told the family that in an instant second last Wednesday “life stopped and changed”.

He said: “We don’t know why accidents happen but they do. We have lots of questions but we simply don’t have answers. We don’t know why and we will never know — it is simply not fair.

“Hunter’s life was lived fully…He never committed a sin in his life — he just radiated love.” 

Addressing the family, Fr Ryan said: 

Hunter lived a life of love. Hunter both gave and received love — his presence in your lives brought great joy and his death has caused great pain. 

Fr Ryan said that Hunter was no different to any other boy or girl of his age, saying: "With heavy hearts, we hand Hunter back to God who first gave him to us.”

Fr Ryan said Hunter’s life "has been a great lesson to all of us”.  Addressing Hunter, Fr Ryan said: “Today with heavy hearts, we give thanks to God in our sadness for your life, short and all as it was, for your inspiration and for legacy.” 

Hunter was later laid to rest at Drumcliffe cemetery outside Ennis and a horse-drawn white carriage brought his remains for most of his final journey.

Hunter’s father, Peter, and other Molloy family members carried the blue coffin through Ennis’s streets before the coffin was placed within the glass-covered carriage.

At the end of the funeral mass, Molloy family members carried Hunter’s coffin outside the Church to the sound of R Kelly’s ’The World’s Greatest’.

Images of Hunter were draped over two of the four white horses with one stating ‘RIP, Our Hunty Wunty’ and a second stating ‘RIP Our Blue Eyed Boy’.