Beloved Ciara Gunning sadly passed away peacefully on Monday surrounded by her loving family
12:49, 23 Jan 2026Updated 12:52, 23 Jan 2026
Ciara Gunning. (Image: )
“Love was the hallmark of her life,” the funeral of Ciara Gunning, has heard.
Beloved Ciara passed away peacefully in St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Dublin, “surrounded by her family” on Monday, January 19. Condolences poured in for Ciara, the partner of The Swing Cats singer Luke Thomas, following her passing.
There were heart-breaking scenes in St. James’ Church, Athboy on Friday as a tearful rendition of Amazing Grace played while mourners gathered to honour her life and share their respects.
Opening Ciara’s funeral mass, mourners were shown symbols celebrating her life. The items brought forward included a pair of Louboutin shoes and a bottle of perfume, showing Ciara’s love of fashion and dressing up, a Kindle which showed her great love for reading, and her coffee mug with the saying ‘You’ve Got This’ printed across it.
In a eulogy to the congregation, the parish priest told mourners how love was the hallmark of Ciara’s life, sharing how hard it is to find “words at a time like this”.
Luke said he is “absolutely devastated” at the death of girlfriend, Ciara. (Image: )
“There can be no denying the sadness and the immense loss that prevails as we gather here this morning with Ciara’s parents, with her family and with her friends to offer a funeral mass for a beautiful young woman who, in our minds, had so much more life to live, love to give, and who should still be living her best life,” he said.
“We struggle to understand how this can be and why all who have loved Ciara have been left with such loss and must now face a very different future than they had hoped for.
“Ciara was one of the last babies to be born in the maternity hospital in Trim before it closed in the early 1980s. Not long after she was born, she was baptized in Kildalkey church by Father Sheridan. And then her school days began a couple of yards away from where we’re sitting next door in O’Growney National School.
“There she made friends and connections, which continued into her secondary school years in this community. She was a young woman who loved a challenge and discovered her great love for playing basketball, particularly during her secondary school years. Later on, I’m told she did some coaching with some underage teams.
“When school was finished, Ciara decided to follow a career in accountancy. She attended Plunket College in Whitehall in Dublin, and began work at the same time managing to get the balance just right and so pass all her exams with flying colors.
“Her family tell me there were two large parts to her working life. She spent her first and earliest years in that work in the Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells. And I’m sure there are people in the church this morning who will remember her from those days.
“Then she moved to work in Dublin with Foley’s Bar and McEnaney Properties, wherever she was and wherever she worked, Ciara loved her job and loved her work, and her engaging personality and her outgoing nature endeared her to many, many people.
Irish singer Luke Thomas with girlfriend Ciara Gunning. (Image: )
“Those symbols that were carried up at the start of our liturgy this morning, her perfume and her Louboutin shoes speak of that lovely fashion sense that she had, her love for her clothes, for getting ready and getting dressed up to go out.”
The parish priest added: “They were a constant part in her life, as you would well expect a young lady like her. She loved music, enjoyed going to gigs. She loved her holidays away and enjoyed travel. I’m told Celine Dion was amplified and blasted round the house and she was getting ready for a night out. The Kindle mentioned already speaks of her love for reading, but also of the great intellect with which she was blessed.
“She enjoyed time in the gym, and in spite of having to contend with Crohn’s disease, she kept her positive outlook in life, keeping the best side out, and instead of being wrapped up in her own concerns, always thought of others.
“Fundraising for those who were her fellow sufferers with Crohn’s, that message on the coffee cup sums her up so well ‘you’ve got this’. Love was the hallmark of her life, her love for her parents, for her family, for her brothers, for her sister in law, for her nieces. She adored and spoiled Emma and Katie, I’m told. And in her own words, Ciara said, Luke entered her life two and a half years ago, right when she needed him.
“We all struggle for words at a time like this morning, we want to say something meaningful or helpful, but there are very few words that are. And we struggle to understand or make sense of all that has happened to Ciara. But we can’t. There are no words, and it is impossible to make sense of why awful, painful things happen to good people.”
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