A small group of mourners gathered amid the headstones of Rath Cemetery in Tralee yesterday morning to bury a homeless 50-year-old man who lost his life in a violent attack on the streets of his native town.
Father-of-two Eddie Joe Clancy died in Kerry General Hospital on Tuesday morning after he was found lying in a pool of blood with serious head injuries in Bridge Street in Tralee after being subjected to a vicious and sustained assault.
From Lohercannon in Tralee, Mr Clancy had battled a chronic drink problem for much of his life which had often led him to fall foul of the law and in recent times, he had ended up staying in hostels or living rough on the streets of Tralee.
His daughter, Jean, and son Darren, his brother Albert and Albert's wife, Mildred, and his aunt Sheila gathered with over 200 or so other mourners to pay their final respects at St John the Baptist's Church in Tralee.
Local curate Fr Michael Moynihan said: "On Tuesday morning when the news broke that somebody had died tragically in the town overnight, it was met with shock and sadness in the town and beyond.
"For you, his family, it was a time of particular shock and sadness as you came to learn of the death of Eddie Joe."
He asked the congregation to remember that everyone had done things they would prefer had not happened and would not wished to be judged by.
"In each of our lives there are events which we might not be proud of.
"Few us would like to be judged by our weakest moments and we pray that the God of mercy and forgiveness will look on Eddie's life and welcome him into one of the rooms in his father's house," he said.
Mr Clancy was buried less than 12 hours after gardaí in Tralee released without charge a 24-year-old local man arrested on Thursday for questioning about Mr Clancy's death early on Tuesday morning.
The man had been arrested at his home on the northern side of Tralee at about 11.25am on Thursday and held for almost 12 hours at Tralee Garda station before being released without charge pending preparation of a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Meanwhile, in Co Cork, father of two Charlie Wrench (42), who died following a shooting incident on Monday night, was buried in Millstreet in a poignant ceremony where the chief mourners were his children, Cora (8) and Fay (5), and their mother, Nathalie Sharples.
Originally from the UK, Mr Wrench had lived in Millstreet for the past 18 years and was a noted bodhrán player and a number of his friends played a selection of Irish airs at an ecumenical service at St Mary's Cemetery in the town.
