Natalie McGuinness’s death was “utterly senseless” mourners at her funeral heard today.
Fr Kevin Loftus parish priest of Easkey said people felt the need to help her family through their intense nightmare but “there is no magic wand to take away the hurt and despair”.
At today’s ceremony John McGuinness described his daughter as a “pure character” who was irreplaceable.
Her boss said she was a human dynamo who had been looking forward to starting a new job in just over a week.
The 23-year-old who died in Sligo this week was laid to rest after a funeral Mass punctuated by laughter and tears.
“Our hearts are broken. Our beautiful irreplaceable daughter has been taken from us”, John McGuinness told mourners at St James church in Easkey.
Fr Loftus acknowledged that there were no words to wash away the pain for Natalie’s loved ones.
The words “bright and bubbly” punctuated the ceremony.
Fr Loftus said Natalie’s death had “cast a dark cloud over the community” , a community so close knit that “we feel one another’s pain”.
He told mourners that some things in life “just don’t make sense” and he said that was certainly true of Natalie’s death.
Poignantly he recalled that when Natalie was born in Limerick on January 1st 1992, her birth had made national headlines as she was a New Year's baby. As Natalie once more became the centre of media attention, Fr Loftus said little did her parents know 23-years-ago what lay ahead.
Friends and neighbours wept as Fr Loftus described Natalie as “lovely and smiling” a young woman who was “everyone’s friend, warm and friendly and full of kindness and generosity”.
John McGuinness brought smiles to the faces of many in the village church as he recounted how Natalie used to steal her mother and sister’s clothes “and came down the stairs one day in my t-shirt”.
He said that as a child she had wanted to be a jockey and had owned a horse called Costello “which we called cost-a-lot”. Later she wanted to be garda until her grandfather told her she was too small.
Mr McGuinness said Natalie loved books and music her pet dog Phoebe and above all her family. She was her sister, Jodie’s best friend, and they would “stay awake until the early hours talking about everything and laughing at nothing”. She was the best sister her brother Dean could hope for and always looked out for him.
Outside the church students from the local Colaiste Iascaigh, where Natalie went to school, formed a guard of honour as autumn sunshine bathed the seaside village which was decorated with Halloween scarecrows for a holiday festival.
Her former boss Pat Hegarty, coordinator of the West Sligo Family Resource Centre, was among hundreds of mourners.
“She was like today –so sunny she lit up the place,” he said. Natalie had studied early childhood education at Ballinode college in Sligo and was due to begin a placement with the resource centre on Monday week, said Mr Hegarty.
“She already volunteered with us and had made such a difference especially to one little boy she worked with,” said Mr Hegarty. “ How do we explain this to him. She was bright,generous, enthusiastic – she brought chaos into a room and I mean that in the best possible sense”.
Fr Loftus told the mourners of a verse hung by Natalie in the front room of the family home. It read: “Love every moment; laugh every day. Love beyond words”.
Chief mourners at the funeral were Natalie’s parents John and Catherine, her sister Jodie, her brother Dean and grandfather Sean.
Among those attending the funeral were Fine Gael TD John Perry, Fianna Fail senator Marc MacSharry and Sligo county councillors Michael Clarke, a family friend and Marie Casserly.
Last Thursday 33-year-old Oisin Conroy with an address at Mail Coach Road Sligo appeared before Sligo District Court charged with the murder of Natalie McGuinness.
