Memorial service for four crash victims to be held in Carlow

A memorial service for the four young women who died in a road collision on Tuesday night near Athy in Co Kildare will take place in Carlow Cathedral today.

Their funerals will take place on Friday and Saturday this week. Ashling Middleton (19), Chermaine Carroll (20), Gemma Nolan (19) and Niamh Doyle (19) died after the VW Polo they were travelling in, which was being driven by a fifth woman who survived, collided with a van at Burtown, Co Kildare at 9.45pm on Tuesday. The driver of the car , Dayna Kearney (20) from Carlow is in a critical condition in Naas hospital.

Ashling Middleton from Athy, Co Kildare will repose at Murphy Brothers Funeral Home on Church Lane, Naas on Friday from 6pm-9pm. The removal takes place on Saturday morning and will arrive at the Church of the Irish Martyrs, Ballycane, Naas for the 11am funeral Mass. The funeral will be followed by the burial at St Corban’s Cemetery in Naas.

Chermaine Carroll from Dolmen Heights in Carlow will repose at McGuill’s Funeral Home, Bennekerry from 2pm on Thursday with prayers at 9pm. The removal takes place at 10.30am on Friday when she will be taken to St Mary’s Church in Bennekerry for the funeral Mass at 11am. The burial will take place in the adjoining cemetery.

Gemma Nolan from Idrone Park, Tullow Road, Carlow, will repose at her family’s home from 2pm on Thursday with prayers at 8pm. The removal takes place at 1.30pm on Friday, followed by her funeral Mass at 2pm in the Holy Family Church in Askea, Co Carlow. The burial will take place in St Mary’s Cemetery in Carlow.

Niamh Doyle from Mount Leinster Park, Carlow, will repose at Carpenter Bros. Funeral Home on Barrack Street, Carlow from 5pm-7pm on Thursday and from 4pm on Friday with prayers at 8pm. The removal takes place at 11.15am on Saturday when she will be taken to the Holy Family Church in Askea for her funeral Mass at 12pm. The burial will be in St Mary's Cemetery in Carlow.

The parish of Carlow has advised tha today’s memorial service is private for the local school community and is not open to the public, according to a statement from the Catholic Communications office. It is an opportunity for students of staff in St Leo’s to remember the past pupils and pray for the injured driver, it said.