‘Sense of what is normal shattered’, mourners told at removal of three Tallaght siblings

Led by a lone piper, three white, horse-drawn carriages bore the remains of Lisa Cash (18) and her brother and sister, Christy and Chelsea Cawley (8) along Brookfield Road in Tallaght, to St Aidan’s church on Thursday.

Hundreds had gathered outside the small church, where five months ago Christy and Chelsea had made their First Holy Communions and close to St Aidan’s community school where last year Lisa sat her Leaving Certificate.

The siblings died of stab wounds at their home in nearby Rossfield Avenue late on Saturday night. Their brother Michael (14), who escaped and raised the alarm, was among the mourners as was their older sister Margaret who was in Australia at the time and returned with their brother-in-law Michael and nephew, baby David.

Under bright evening sunshine, their mother, ‘Twink’ Margaret was supported as she walked slowly from casket to casket, kissing and laying her head on each. The piper played Raglan Road and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and as the caskets were lifted from the carriages and into the small church.

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Fr Bill O’Shaughnessy, welcoming mourners for the removal, said the family and wider community had not only been “robbed of three young lives,” but also “of our innocence ... our sense of what’s normal”.

“That has been shattered, broken. People are stopping each other in the streets, in the shops, in disbelief. How could this happen?”

Though people did not know what to say at such times, he continued, “being together makes us stronger and helps us take the next step, and the next step.”

Lisa and her brother and sister, whom she was babysitting the night they died, would be “very sadly missed by their heartbroken family,” said Fr O’Shaughnessy, “by their grandparents Martin McDonagh, Martin and Mag, their aunts, uncles, cousins ... their extended family and their many, many friends”.

Among those gathered outside the church for the service were dozens of children, some in the school uniform of St Aidan’s Senior National School to which the twins had just progressed from St Brigid’s Junior National School. Many sobbed. One boy, about the twins’ age, fell into the fold of his mother’s embrace as she bent over him, kissing his head. Other wiped tears from their faces as they hugged each other.

As the brief service ended Fr O’Shaughnessy invited mourners to take some time to look at the artwork on the walls from the two junior schools. Coloured-in prints of communion chalices from the St Brigid’s classes were labelled with names like Madison, JJ, Graham. One neatly coloured and with small hearts drawn around the border, bore the name Chelsea.

A man addressed the congregation before they left, telling them the nearby Brookfield community centre and the local Traveller project, were open for refreshments and as places to go “to talk and express what’s going on in your head and your hearts. It’s important to talk,” he said.

Outside the church were large floral tributes, with photos of the siblings. One, with a photo taken of the three with their mother and wider family, said, “Back with their daddy”. Both the twins’ father, Billy Cawley, and Lisa’s father Andy Cash, predeceased their children.

A joint funeral for the three will be attended by representatives of the Taoiseach and the President on Friday morning.

Andrew Cash (24), the siblings’ older brother, was charged with their murder on Monday. During his court appearance, Mr Cash gave a “no comment” when charged.