A woman from Shannon and her granddaughter have been killed in Portugal. They were hit by a car driven by a teenage motorist. Mrs Teresa O'Mara (54) was knocked down while pushing her six-month-old granddaughter, Katie Alford, in a buggy on a zebra crossing in Praia de Rocha in the Algarve on Friday evening. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said she died at the scene. Katie died from her injuries in hospital yesterday.
A police spokesman at nearby Portimao said the 19-year-old motorist, who comes from another part of Portugal, is believed to have been speeding and to have overtaken cars stopped at the crossing on a dual carriageway while Mrs O'Mara and her husband, Brendan, crossed with their grandchildren. Neither Mr O'Mara nor his grandson was injured.
The motorist was taken into custody but was later released pending a court hearing.
The O'Maras have six adult children. Katie Alford was the daughter of Damien and Caitriona Alford. Other family members arrived in the Algarve yesterday to help to arrange the repatriation of the bodies.
The parish priest of Shannon, Father Brendan O'Donoghue, said Mrs O'Mara was an active person in the community and very involved in helping the elderly and visiting people in hospital. She also helped to organise an annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Neighbours said she was very popular. Ms Breda Larkin said when she was new to the area Mrs O'Mara had befriended her immediately and she had found her a caring person.
Ms Christina Halpin said Mrs O'Mara was a good-humoured person and always chatty. "If I needed her she was there," she said.
Mr Michael Griffin and his wife, Anne, said she was a good neighbour who had been very involved with her family and in community activities.