‘We’re living every parents’ nightmare’

THEY reluctantly gave her their blessing to go on the trip of a lifetime, but the generosity of Tara Whelan’s parents ended in tragedy.

Tony and Frances Whelan hadn't the heart to deny their youngest daughter a well-earned break in Turkey when she had studied so hard for her Leaving Certificate.

Having saved for the trip, Tara was given permission to travel to the holiday resort of Kusadasi where a bomb on board a bus shattered all their lives.

The bubbly 17-year-old's anxious parents had done all they could to ensure her safety, her heartbroken father said yesterday.

"We simply didn't want her to go," the retired Glanbia storeman said.

"You do worry when they go off on holiday. But we had to let her go. We're living every parents' nightmare now. We sent our daughter off for the break of a lifetime her very first holiday abroad with friends. Now we're preparing to bury her."

Mr Whelan said they had done everything possible to ensure Tara's safety she stayed in a hotel rather than an apartment and her friends and travelling companions, twins Lyndsey and Tracey Galgey, knew people over there.

"They knew six adults in all nearby who would only be a phone call away, should something go wrong. We weren't just sending our daughter out into the unknown. Little did we know," he said.

The keen musician and animal lover had been out until 7am with the twins on Saturday. The sisters then went to bed but Tara went to buy presents for her family. She was among the five who died instantly when the bomb on board the minibus in which she was travelling exploded.

The final journey to buy gifts was testament to the kind-hearted, fun-loving girl she was, her mother said. "That was Tara for you. Always putting other people first."

Frances Whelan spoke lovingly of her daughter's talent for singing, her ear for music and her desire to be famous some day.

Last night, the couple, and their children, Frank, 26, Anton, 25, Marianne, 24 and Lisa, 19, left the yellow-painted bungalow overlooking Kilmeaden about 15 minutes from Waterford city to make the journey to meet the remains of the youngest family member at Cork airport.

A postmortem is due to take place at Cork University Hospital this morning and the Whelan family hope to have their daughter's body home by 5pm.

Tara will be laid to rest after noon mass tomorrow in a plot adjoining her neighbour, 23 year-old Derek Ryan.

He died when a car he was a passenger in went out of control last week.

"We told Tara about his death," Mrs Whelan said. "They had been in school together. She was to go up to the house when she came home to commiserate with them. Little did we think they would now be helping us through this."