AIDAN HOLLY, the 23-year-old soldier who died while on holiday in Pamplona, Spain, over a week ago, was given a full military funeral in his native Tarbert in Co Kerry yesterday.
Mourners heard how the young soldier had a tremendous love of Irish history and the Irish language and that he had led a very active lifestyle and had the spirit of the "fíor Ghael" .
In a homily, parish priest of Tarbert Fr Francis Nolan said Mr Holly's friends and family had been numbed and shocked but the community had rallied around them in a truly Christian way.
He died last Sunday week after falling from a 30-metre wall, a vantage point for the annual San Fermin bull run in Pamplona, in northern Spain. His remains arrived home at the weekend.
Mr Holly's coffin was draped in the Tricolour and a picture of him in uniform was placed on the altar on which five priests concelebrated his funeral Mass.
Fr Nolan told an overflowing St Mary's parish church yesterday how "a dark gloom" had hung over Tarbert all week and all social events had been cancelled.
A former altar boy and qualified carpenter, he "decided last year to join the Irish Army which he loved and he was truly enjoying this experience until his sudden tragic death," Fr Nolan said.
Mourners were asked to contribute to a collection box for Temple Street Hospital for Sick Children, in honour of the fact that Mr Holly had cycled around Ireland for charity.
At the end of the Mass a comrade from Collins Barracks in Cork, Pte Nicholas Fahy, told mourners Mr Holly would "always be missed by all of us".
The general in charge of the Munster area, commander of the First Southern Brigade, Brig Gen Pat Hayes was in attendance.
Some 150 Army personnel and military police and gardaí were involved in the funeral honours co-ordinated by the military police. An escort of honour was provided by the Fourth Infantry Battalionand the Army band of the First Southern Brigade led the cortege to the nearby graveyard.