An 18-year-old boy who died alongside four friends in a head-on crash was laid to rest in County Carlow amid heavy security. Jeremy O'Brien was the fourth of the five teenagers to be buried following the incident on the M9 motorway. Police established checkpoints and stationed a public order unit near The Holy Family Church in Askea, anticipating possible disorder.
O'Brien died in the collision along with Jack Kennedy, 17, Kamil Pustkowski, Joe Carthy, 15, and Alex McCarthy. The vehicle they were traveling in was reportedly driven the wrong way down the M9. The funeral for Jack Kennedy is expected to take place the following day.
The occupants of the other vehicle, a family of three women and a child, are being treated for serious injuries in hospital. They were en route to Dublin Airport for a holiday.
During the service, young men wore T-shirts bearing a picture of O'Brien. Father Tom Little addressed mourners, speaking of a "deep sense of sadness and loss." He remarked on the particular sorrow of a young life being cut short unexpectedly and the amplified grief when multiple lives are lost and others seriously injured. "Families have been changed forever," he stated.
Father Little also asked the congregation to remember the families of Ella Hendricken and Niamh and Alma Kinsella, who sustained serious injuries in the crash, as well as the seven-year-old boy, a son of one of the sisters, who was also badly hurt. He concluded by acknowledging the difficult journey ahead for families dealing with loss and offering prayers for the recovery of those in hospital and the medical staff caring for them.
