“They are inconsolable. Louise said to me: “I have lost everyone, except little Rionaghac-Ann”, said Father Paddy O’Kane, the local priest. ‘Louise said to me, “I have lost everyone, except little Rionaghac-Ann”.
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All five died when Mr McGrotty’s Audi SUV slid on algae on the slipway and went into the water. The only survivor was her baby girl.
“This is a desert experience, barren of any comfort, as we search for an oasis of hope in this bleak landscape and as we struggle to find there any refreshing words of life and healing”, he said. Even the heavens are crying.
“Who would have thought that a family day out could have ended so tragically? Five people whom we loved”.
“It has rightly been described as a dark week in Derry’s history and it was important that we reflected this sense of loss and sadness in this week’s paper, whilst also highlighting the positive story of little Riognach’s rescue and the hope that this has given her family”.
A priest at their funeral said eight-year-old Evan McGrotty told Louise James: “Mammy I miss you so much”.
“The father looked at me and he had to make a decision”, Mr Walsh told Irish broadcaster RTE.
The child had spoken to his mother at about 7pm and within 45 minutes Evan, alongside his brother, Mark, 12, his father, Sean, grandmother Ruth Daniels and his 14-year-old aunt, Jodie-Lee, were dead.
“It could easily have been seven deaths, not five”. When finally prompted to pray by the undertaker, the words seemed to echo, so empty and hollow.
Rioghnach was saved by the bystander. I can’t imagine what she is going through right now, it is just unthinkable and every mother’s nightmare.
He said: “The self-sacrifice of Sean on Sunday evening as he desperately tried to save his family, we saw that altruism again in the bravery of Davitt Walsh who saved the life of Rioghnach Ann by swimming out to rescue her. Davitt, today we salute you as our hero”.
Walsh, who had stripped down and dived into the icy Lough Swilly waters, shouted “take the baby, take the baby” when he made it back to shore, so exhausted he could hardly hold her, local man Francis Crawford told the Irish Independent.
Bishop McKeown also praised the response of the community in Derry. The kindness of strangers is another ray of light to lift us from our darkness.
The baby’s mother, Louise James, lost her partner, her two sons, her mother and her sister in the tragedy. “You are just going to have to wait a little longer ‘until you get that tight hug promised to you from Evan”.
Representitivate of the President and the Taoseach, as wellas Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness are among the hundreds of mourners at the mass this afternoon.
A number of symbols representing the lives of Jodie-Lee, Mark and Evan were brought to the altar by their friends from St Eithne’s, St Joseph’s and St Mary’s school.
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Sean McGrotty with wife Louise, baby Rionaghac-Ann, and sons Mark and Evan.
