Clondalkin shooting victim Tom Farnan was brought to and from his funeral by a horse-drawn Marston hearse - two dark ponies with funereal black plumes on their foreheads and word wreaths proclaiming his relationship to those who loved him: Brother, Da, Son, they said.
St Aidan's Church in Brookfield, a most un-church-like building in the centre of one of Tallaght, Dublin's less obviously prosperous areas, was filled by approximately 400 people.
Six male pall bearers removed the wooden coffin from the glass box hearse and carried it, graced with a floral spray of ivory and mauve roses, freesias and sprigs of leylandii, into the church to a recording of Garth Brooks singing The River.
Farnan (37) was shot dead, when he opened the front door to his home in Clondalkin on April 25th. His balaclava-wearing assassin was dressed all in black and ran off into the night.
Farnan, while not a major criminal, was “no saint” either, as Fr Jimmy McPartland said in his homily. Farnan had been detained by the police numerous times for robbery and traffic offences and had been sentenced to imprisonment on three occasions. However he had not come to the attention of the Garda of late.
Fr McPartland pointed out that he had a partner, Elaine, two sons, Lorcan and Sean, parents Idrona and Ian, a grandmother Kathleen, a sister, brothers, and extended family and many friends, all of whom were grieving.
“We mustn’t judge a life by the way it ends,” he said. “A tragic end doesn’t negate the rest of Tom’s life. . .
“Tom was no saint but he was a generous and caring person. He loved life and did his best to live it to the full. He loved deeply his family. He was an inquisitive person, a character with a great sense of humour and, not the first time I heard this morning, he was a gentle giant who loved greatly and deeply his family and they loved him deeply in return.”
The sudden and violent manner of Farnan’s death had stunned, he said.
“The biggest difficulty that we have now is that we feel so powerless,” he said. “Events have moved in a swift and unforeseen way, beyond our control. We have been left behind almost as feeble spectators.”
Helena, a friend of the family, gave a eulogy in which she delivered their thoughts – sister Jenny, who never thought she would have to say goodbye to her brother, never to see his “big smiley face again”; son Sean who was “proud to call you my Da”; his brothers remembered his “cheek, charm and the love [he] had for our family [and his] big heart of gold”; his mother Idrone: “Tom, my son, you will always be the most part of my heart’s memories; I cherish the moments I held you in my arms”.
The objects representing Farnan’s life that were placed in front of the altar at the start of his funeral included a photograph of him, a dog lead, a telly bingo ticket and a scratch card.
Soloist Susan Dowling, accompanied on piano by Joe Fitzgerald, sang On Eagle's Wings; Here I am, Lord; and May The Road Rise to Meet You.
After the funeral, Farnan was interred in Bohernabreena Cemetery, having been carried from St Aidan's to the strains of Aslan singing How Can I Protect You in his Crazy World?
