{"id":516038,"date":"2026-06-24T12:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T12:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:25:13","slug":"tributes-pour-in-following-death-of-irelands-oldest-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516038\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes pour in following death of Ireland’s oldest person"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tributes are pouring in following the death of Sister Colette (Bridget) Hickey, the founder of Edel House in Cork and, until recently, Ireland\u2019s oldest person.<\/p>\n

Born in Co Waterford on January 31, 1918, Sr Colette became Ireland\u2019s oldest person<\/a> at 108, just weeks before her death.<\/p>\n

A member of the Good Shepherd Sisters, she founded Edel House in 1972 as an emergency refuge for women and children. <\/p>\n

\"\"Sister Colette Hickey. Pic: Edel House<\/p>\n

The charity, which began on Dyke Parade and is now based on Grattan Street, has helped thousands of people facing homelessness and hardship over the past five decades.<\/p>\n

In a statement shared on social media, Edel House and Good Shepherd Cork described Sr Colette as a \u2018beloved member\u2019 of the organisation whose kindness, compassion and dedication touched countless lives.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yesterday, Cork lost a truly remarkable woman,\u2019 the post said.<\/p>\n

The organisation said Sr Colette had been a beacon of hope for generations of people facing hardship and praised her vision, faith and commitment to helping others.<\/p>\n

Paying tribute to the founder of Edel House<\/a>, the statement said her legacy would live on through the women, children and families she supported over decades of service.<\/p>\n

\u2018As she would say, \u201cfrom a very small seed\u201d,\u2019 the post added, referencing the growth of the organisation she established more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n

The organisation extended its condolences to Sr Colette\u2019s family, her fellow sisters and all who knew her, describing her life as one of love, service and compassion.<\/p>\n

Sr Colette<\/a> celebrated her 108th birthday in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes are pouring in following the death of Sister Colette (Bridget) Hickey, the founder of Edel House in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-516038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516038","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=516038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}