A Co Donegal priest recalled his own experience of being involved in a serious car crash 45 years ago as he urged young people to treat life with “care and caution”.
Buncrana priest Fr John Walsh was speaking at the funeral of Nathan Dixon-Gill (17) who died alongside his friend Nathan Farrell (18) when the car in which they were travelling crashed between Moville and Quigley’s Point.
Three other men who were also in the car were injured and are being treated in hospital with one of them suffering serious spinal injuries.
Only one of the five – one of the survivors – had been wearing a safety belt, gardaí later revealed.
Fr Walsh said the community had been left shattered by the tragedy and there had been a massive outpouring of “love, solidarity and support” for the family of the deceased.
“Nathan was a brother who was admired by his siblings. A friend who was loved by his peers.”
Addressing the many young people gathered in St Mary’s Church, Cockhill, Buncrana, Fr Walsh said he was not there to lecture them.
“I was your age too and I felt indestructible and even eternal, but none of us is. That’s the plain fact of life.
“So please, please live life on its terms, live life within its rules, with its caution. Otherwise life will be pitiless towards you and the family and friends who have to come to this or another church to bear you to the grave.”
Fr Walsh said he spoke from experience and authority as he lost a friend in a car crash in 1973, and he and four friends were involved in a car crash returning to Maynooth from the funeral.
One of his friends spent the rest of his life paralysed from the chest down as a result of the crash.
“Dear young people. I know what I am talking about. Life is fragile.”
The funeral of Mr Farrell (18) will take place in the same church on Thursday.