A funeral has been held for five members of one family who died in a fire at a Travellers site in south Dublin this month.
Pregnant Tara Gilbert, 27, her partner Willie Lynch, 25, their children Kelsey, four, and Jodie, nine, and Lynch’s brother, Jimmy, 39, were among 10 people who died in the blaze in Carrickmines on 10 October.
During the service at the Church of the holy Redeemer in Bray, County Wicklow, a message was read out from Pope Francis, who expressed his “deep sadness” over the tragedy.
“The Holy Father prays especially for those who have died, and he wishes to assure all their family members, their friends, and the whole Traveller community, of his spiritual closeness and sympathy at this very difficult time,” the letter said.
Father Derek Farrell, the parish priest for the Travellers, said he had observed “a new close relationship and interactions between settled and Traveller, united in various forms of solidarity and prayer over the past week”.
He added: “The three families, Lynch, Gilbert and Connors, the entire Traveller community and Ireland as a nation suffered a loss which is beyond words.”
The funeral of their relatives who also died in the blaze – the Lynchs’ sister Sylvia Connors, 25, her husband, Thomas, 27, and their children Jim, five, Christy, two, and Mary, five months – will take place on Thursday in Ballaly, south Dublin.
