A tragic teenager who died after he was struck by a car while walking home will be laid to rest this weekend.
Nathan Lawlor, 16, from Rathkeale, Co Limerick, was hit by a vehicle at around 3.45am, about 2km outside the village of Adare on the N21 Limerick to Tralee road last Sunday.
Garda sources said they believed Nathan had been socialising at birthday party celebrations in the area and was walking home when the tragedy occurred.
His funeral will take place in his native Limerick this weekend.
A death notice on RIP.ie reads: "Nathan, beloved son of Gus and Catriona and loving brother of Jordan and Noah.
"Sadly missed by his heartbroken parents, brothers, grandparents Sean and Teresa Hough and Ned and Kathleen Lawlor, aunts, uncles, cousins, Willie and Mary, relatives, neighbours and all his great friends."
A wake will be held at Magner's Funeral Home in Rathkeale on Friday evening from 5pm to 7pm.
Requiem Mass will be held on Saturday at 10am in St. Mary's Church, Rathkeale, followed by burial afterwards in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Bridie Collins said everyone in the village was “shocked” by the tragedy.
“It’s an awful tragedy for whoever it is and their family, there is a young wee fella not coming home. There for the grace of god go any of us that any our own (children) come home every night they go out,” Ms Collins said.
“All I can say is that it is a horrendous tragedy. I’m shocked. My heart bleeds for the family. It’s a wasted life, 16 years old.”
“The sadness around is that this 16 year old did not come home today. It’s the end of a very short life, and life is so short and so precious,” she added.
“My sympathy goes out to his family. We are all really shocked. Myself and my husband have just been talking about our own children, getting them through the teenage years and you still worry about them – they are in their early twenties – and God, I just can’t imagine how I would feel if one of them weren’t coming home, it just doesn’t bear thinking about.”
Superintendent Aileen Magner of Newcastle West garda station, passed on her sympathies to the boy’s family, and said the investigation was ongoing.
“We are still investigating the last movements of Nathan,” Supt Magner said.
“I’d appeal for anybody who may have been passing at the time and who may have noticed anything unusual, or anybody who may have dashcam footage, their help would be appreciated,” she added.
The male driver of the car involved was not injured and was “helping gardai with their enquiries” into the fatal collision, according to a garda source.
