{"id":272114,"date":"2026-01-30T15:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272114\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:31:08","slug":"grace-lynch-made-people-feel-happy-just-to-be-around-her-teenagers-funeral-hears-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272114\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Lynch made people \u2018feel happy just to be around her\u2019, teenager\u2019s funeral hears \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red ribbons dotted the trees and lamp-posts of St Helena\u2019s Drive in Finglas, Dublin<\/a>, on Friday morning, steering a path towards St Oliver Plunkett\u2019s Church and the funeral of 16-year-old Grace Lynch. <\/p>\n

There, hundreds of mourners gathered. Classmates from St Michael\u2019s secondary school flanked the entryway to the church in a guard of honour. Red ribbons were pinned to their uniforms in memory of Grace\u2019s favourite colour. <\/p>\n

Last Sunday, on the other side of Tolka Valley Park, Grace was hit by a scrambler<\/a> on a pedestrian crossing on the Ratoath Road. She died in hospital that evening. <\/p>\n

Her mother, Siobh\u00e1n Lynch, thanked the congregation for the support she and her family have received. \u201cGrace was loved by so many people, and she loved so many people back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Grace'sGrace’s family, including her father, Martin and mother Siobh\u00e1n, stand behind the hearse after the funeral Mass. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a way about her that would make you feel happy just to be around her,\u201d said Ms Lynch. \u201cShe was always laughing at nothing. She was only starting her life. And she was so in love with her boyfriend Harry.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were blessed to have known Grace, you would have known how funny, bubbly and kind she was,\u201d Ms Lynch said.<\/p>\n

Alongside her mother, Grace is survived by her father Martin, sisters Shauna and Brooke, and her brother Jude.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will miss you forever and we love you forever. You\u2019re in the arms of the angels now, Grace, and life will never be the same. I love you baby.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fr Seamus Aherne described walking by the Tolka river early on Friday morning, several hours before the service. There, he met a woman on her way to work in the Mater hospital, who spoke of the \u201csuffocation of grief everywhere\u201d after Sunday\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe accident was horrendous,\u201d Fr Aherne said. \u201cThe lives of all here have been deeply affected. It\u2019s like a volcano.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Grace\u2019s loss has shattered her family. Clarifying his feelings as \u201cgeneral\u201d and \u201cnot specific\u201d, Fr Aherne said, \u201cthose motorbikes racing around our community are dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccidents are waiting to happen and will happen. Those mad youngsters, full of bravado and daredevil behaviour, screaming around and weaving through traffic, will kill and be killed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose driving around on e-scooters at present, in black clothes without lights and no hi-vis jackets, will kill and will be killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The priest said Grace\u2019s grandmother Dolores saw her as beautiful, and always having time for everyone. She was never condemning, and believed everyone had good in them, he added.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe funeral cortege arrives at St Oliver Plunkett’s Church in Rivermount, Dublin, on Friday. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Gifts were offered in the form of a St Michael\u2019s school jumper, a jewellery case and a self-portrait. Earlier in the day, the funeral cort\u00e8ge had stopped outside St Michael\u2019s to release balloons into the sky. <\/p>\n

Grace was an avid artist, and Fr Aherne told the funeral of some of her favourite bands: Oasis, The Carpenters and The Cranberries among them. During the service, the folk ballad Grace, and the hymn Amazing Grace, were sung. <\/p>\n

As the mass drew to a close and Grace\u2019s coffin was carried from the church, Oasis\u2019s Live Forever played out on the speakers. <\/p>\n

The funeral was attended by members of Dublin Fire Brigade<\/a> and Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a>. Teenage students from other schools were also present, with boys wearing red ties in lieu of the ribbons. <\/p>\n

In the wake of Grace\u2019s death, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> pledged to remove scramblers from public roads.<\/p>\n

A man (18) appeared in court on Tuesday<\/a> charged with dangerous driving causing Grace\u2019s death. The case was adjourned until May 1st.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red ribbons dotted the trees and lamp-posts of St Helena\u2019s Drive in Finglas, Dublin, on Friday morning, steering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,34724,61,60,3658,1843,43,3415],"class_list":{"0":"post-272114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-dublin-fire-brigade","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","13":"tag-micheal-martin","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-sinn-fein"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}