A NURSE killed in a hit-and-run collision last Friday led a life of “caring” and “kindness”, her funeral mass heard today (Wednesday).
Aine O’Reilly (33), of Pallasgreen, County Limerick, was driving to work at the out-of-hours GP service Shannondoc, when her car was struck by another car. The other driver fled the scene on foot and remained at large.
A driver of a third car also caught up in the collision was treated in hospital for minor injuries.
Ms O’Reilly’s family prayed for the motorist’s speedy recovery and thanked members of the emergency services that responded at the fatal scene.
Gardaí investigating the fatal collision said they were following a “definite line of enquiry” as they continued to hunt for the hit-and-run driver.
In a loving tribute to his sister, Eoin O’Reilly told mourners at St John the Baptist Church in Nicker that it was important that everyone celebrated Áine’s life “because Áine loved a celebration”.
“When I think of Áine, I think of her warm and open smile, and her easy-going attitude that was designed to make everybody feel comfortable in her presence,” said Mr O’Reilly.
“She carried herself with an elegance and a poise, she was always fashion conscious and always had her hair and make-up on point,” he said.
Mr O’Reilly said his sister always saw the bright side of life: “She loved to laugh, her friends knew her as a mischief-maker, and when she was about to laugh, her eyebrows would raise, her eyes and mouth would open wide, and you would be met with the longest warmest chuckle.
“Áine loved listening to music, she loved to cook, to travel, to try new things, and beneath all that, she had a strength and resilience and her incredible caring nature meant that she was a brilliant nurse.
“In addition to that, it wasn’t only humans who benefited; Áine adored animals — and generations of family pets in our house will never know how lucky they had it.”
Mr O’Reilly said his sister had “a keen and inquisitive mind” which he said fuelled her appetite for “current affairs”.
“She loved being part of the zeitgeist, being part of the discussion, and as we have all said, she would have had such an amazing time listening to the news coverage over the last couple of days,” joked Mr O’Reilly.
Mr O’Reilly said the realisation of his sister’s death hit him only while he was watching the Six One news on RTÉ two days after her death, “and we saw that she led the headlines and knocked multiple major world issues to the second half (of the programme)”.
“The enormity of what was happening really hit me as I automatically reached for my phone to message Áine to make sure that she was watching or to take a photo or video to show her what was happening.
“And it was at that moment I realised that’s not something I will ever be able to do again – none of us ever will.”
Despite their grief and sadness, Mr O’Reilly said their memories of Aine “will fill us with joy … Áine will forever be part of our lives”.
“One crumb of comfort I have is that, in her last moments with us, before the lights went out, she was in her car listening to her music, singing along, going to a job she was born to do, full of hope and dreams for the next new and exciting chapter in her life, independent, free, and happy,” offered Mr O’Reilly.
“A nation mourns the loss of a beautiful young woman. But to us, she will always be our precious little Áine,” he concluded.
Fr Tomas O’Connell, parish priest, Pallasgreen Templebraden, fought back tears describing how a “huge cloud of doom” descended locally as news filtered through of Ms O’Reilly’s death last Friday.
‘It was devastating news, an unbelievable shuddering blow … life stopped dead, literally,” said Fr O’Connell.
Ms O’Reilly’s heartbroken parents, Ann, a retired teacher, and Eugene, a retired Garda, poignantly linked one another from their seats at the front of the church, where Áine was baptised, to light a candle by her coffin.
Turning to them both, Fr O’Connell told them: “We are with you, we are with you.”
Ms O’Reilly, survived by her parents and siblings, Eoin, James, Conor and her sister-in-law Aisling, was laid to rest in St Columba’s Cemetery, Pallasgreen.