Hundreds attended the removal last night of a young couple who died in a house fire in Co Kildare on Monday morning.
Darren Hanly (23) and Amanda Murphy (21) died after fire engulfed the house on McMurrough Hill in the Curragh Camp shortly after 3am.
They had returned from a New Year's Eve party with friends not long before the fire broke out in a downstairs kitchen.
The couple's two children, Tiernan (3) and Keadon (eight weeks), were staying with their grandparents at the time.
At St Brigid's Church, the garrison church of the Defence Forces training centre, local chaplain Fr PJ McEvoy extended the sympathy of the close-knit community to Darren and Amanda's parents, children, relatives and friends, as well as to colleagues and members of the military.
He said that on New Year's Day, "a time of celebration was suddenly turned into a time of sorrow, shock and grieving for all the people of the Curragh. I only hope that our presence here in such huge numbers, and our prayers and our feeble words of sympathy will be a comfort to you," he told the bereaved families.
Fr McEvoy reminded mourners that St Brigid's was the church in which both Darren and Amanda had been baptised and confirmed. Their baby son was due to be baptised shortly at the same church.
He recalled Amanda as a young girl at the local national school, "always happy and fun-loving", and Darren, who was "very quiet, unassuming" as a boy.
Darren spent a few years with the Army's Third Battalion before starting a new career in the building industry. "Ambitious and dreaming about a great future, he found a niche in construction," said Fr McEvoy.
Mourners were read a message from President Mary McAleese, who is out of the country and said she was sorry not to be in attendance. She wanted to extend her "deepest sympathy to both families and assure them that they are in her thoughts and prayers at this time", Fr McEvoy said.
The results of postmortems carried out at Naas General Hospital have not yet been released. However, it is understood that preliminary results showed the couple died of smoke inhalation.
Gardaí have said they are satisfied the fire started in the kitchen. A number of kitchen appliances have been sent to the Garda Technical Bureau for analysis.
Following this analysis and the final results of the postmortems, a report will be sent to the county coroner.
Funeral Mass will be said for the couple at St Brigid's at 11am today, and they will be buried at St Conleth's Cemetery.
The funeral of the man who died in another house fire in the Curragh early this week will take place tomorrow. Patrick Flood (55) was killed in the blaze at his house in Ballysax on Tuesday. His body, along with that of his sheepdog, was found by a relative at about 9.40am that day. Mr Flood, a farmer, lived alone.
The removal of his remains will take place this evening from Anderson and Leahy's Funeral Home, in Newbridge, to St Brigid's Church, Suncroft, Co Kildare.
The funeral will be held after 11am Mass tomorrow and Mr Flood will be buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Suncroft.
