THE LOSS of Celine Cawley, the Dublin businesswoman who died after being attacked in her home in Howth last week, was "appalling" to her family, mourners at her funeral have been told.
Ms Cawley's brother-in-law Andrew Coonan said yesterday was a very difficult day for the family and he thanked those who had come to mourn on behalf of her family: her daughter Georgia, father Jim, brother Chris and sister Susanna and extended family.
Mr Coonan asked for support for the family to help them overcome their sadness and grief. His brief remarks at the end of the service were greeted with a burst of applause.
The Church of the Assumption in Howth was filled to overflowing and scores more had to wait outside. As Ms Cawley's coffin was carried inside, Sutton Park school choir performed a rendition of Take That's Rule the World.
Fr Ciarán O'Carroll said the death of someone so vital, so full of life and love and promise would inevitably make people look at life in a different way. "We remember her kindness, her honesty, her loyalty, her dramatic and passionate nature. We cherish the memories of someone who was incredibly loving, kind, thoughtful and considerate."
He described Ms Cawley (46) as "a doer, with a flair and an ability to get things done with panache and style".
"Our thoughts go out to Georgia, her much-loved daughter, her father and other family members," Fr O'Carroll continued.
Now that Ms Cawley's journey through the world was tragically over, "the death of someone to whom we feel so close is an incredibly painful, distressing and heartbreaking experience that words cannot express, they are inadequate to express the emotions we feel today".
In his homily, Fr O'Carroll noted that Ms Cawley's death had occurred at the winter solstice, "when our ancestors felt the cold of night and the brevity of the day".
"Our ancestors who built Newgrange recognised that on the shortest day of the year that shaft of light in the tomb would give some small measure of hope for the future. We turn to that light today for some measure of hope.
"Death is not the extinguishing of the light, for a Christian it's the putting out of the lamp because the day has come."
Staff from Sutton Park School, where Georgia is a student, read the readings and school pupils read prayers of the faithful for Ms Cawley, Georgia, all members of the dead woman's family, and her staff and colleagues in the film industry.
The congregation included many leading names from the advertising and film industries, and friends and neighbours from Howth.
Directors and other staff with Ms Cawley's production company, Toytown Films, attended, as were representatives of companies such as Diageo, Coca Cola, Heineken, National Lottery, O2 and Carlsberg which were clients of her company.
Local public representatives who attended included TDs Seán Haughey and Michael Woods; Senators Ivor Callely and Feargal Quinn; and former minister Michael O'Kennedy. From the legal world, the former chairman of the planning tribunal, Feargus Flood, former Supreme Court judge Hugh O'Flaherty and Michael Collins SC were among the mourners. Maureen Haughey and her son Ciarán and daughter Emer were also in attendance.
Ms Cawley was one of the country's top advertising executives with Toytown Films, which she set up in 1990. She built up the company to become one of the country's highest-profile production houses.
