{"id":667595,"date":"2026-10-28T07:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/667595\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T07:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:32:12","slug":"they-suffered-more-than-any-family-should-bray-couple-remembered-at-shared-funeral-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/667595\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They suffered more than any family should\u2019: Bray couple remembered at shared funeral \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple who died at their Bray, Co Wicklow, home last week were remembered for their kindness, love for their children and good nature at their shared funeral on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Hundreds gathered outside St Anne\u2019s Church in Shankill to welcome the two hearses carrying the coffins of James \u201cJamie\u201d McGinn and his wife, Bridget \u201cBiddy\u201d O\u2019Brien, who were found dead at their home in the Cois Cairn estate<\/a> on Old Connaught Avenue in Bray, on Wednesday October 21st.<\/p>\n

The Mass at St Anne\u2019s Church was offered by Bray parish priest Fr Michael O\u2019Kelly and Shankill parish priest Fr Emmet O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n

As two bibles, a set of tools and a radio were placed on the coffin, O\u2019Kelly told the congregation they represented their faith, Jamie McGinn\u2019s love of working with his hands and the couple\u2019s shared love of music.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Kelly said he had begun to understand the couple\u2019s personalities, their struggles and how loved they were while speaking with their families after their deaths.<\/p>\n

\"JamieJamie McGinn and Bridget O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

The couple lost both of their children, Holly (3) and Jordan McGinn (4), in a 2017 fire, of which Bridget O\u2019Brien was the only survivor. However, the priest said they refused to be \u201cdefined simply by the tragic deaths\u201d, but were a constant presence at their children\u2019s graves. <\/p>\n

He said there was a \u201cdepth of grief\u201d in the family, which was suffering \u201canother impossible wave of grief\u201d almost 10 years after the loss of the two children. The family had \u201csuffered more than any family should\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe remains of Bridget \u2018Biddy\u2019 O\u2019Brien (45) and James \u2018Jamie\u2019 McGinn (38) are brought from St Anne\u2019s Church, Shankill, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph: Collins<\/p>\n

The funeral heard that Bridget O\u2019Brien \u201cnever fully returned to the person she had been before\u201d, a person \u201cfull of joy\u201d.<\/p>\n

As she had suffered severe burns in the fire, she remained hospitalised for weeks after the incident and could not attend the funeral.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time she recovered from her injuries, the children had already been buried for some time. Not having the chance to say goodbye, to grieve properly, was something that really haunted her ever since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the tragedy the couple faced, the congregation was told \u201cBiddy … never lost her kindness towards others\u201d and that \u201cJamie was someone who would do anything for anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

An obituary written by Jamie McGinn\u2019s father, Michael McGinn, remembered how he had been a \u201cwonderful little crew member\u201d on sailing trips in memories that held a \u201cspecial place\u201d in both of their hearts.<\/p>\n

McGinn said his son had a \u201cnatural curiosity\u201d about how things were made, often watching bricklayers and carpenters at work, \u201ctaking everything in\u201d, and that he was proud of how he turned that interest into \u201creal skills\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay you and Bridget rest together in peace. You will both remain forever in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Kelly told the funeral that Jamie McGinn\u2019s work in a roofing company \u201cgave him focus and helped him to cope with the loss of his children\u201d but that \u201chis hold on life remained very fragile\u201d.<\/p>\n

The priest encouraged the families to \u201chold on to the image of Biddy and Jamie embracing their children\u201d and that \u201cdeath doesn\u2019t have the final word … love is stronger than death.\u201d <\/p>\n

The couple rejoined their \u201cbeloved children\u201d Jordan and Holly at Springfield Cemetery in Bray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A couple who died at their Bray, Co Wicklow, home last week were remembered for their kindness, love…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5981,42,43,172219,40,38,41,39,7469],"class_list":["post-667595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bray","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-shankill","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wicklow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667595","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=667595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}