Donegal was in the heart of a young fashion designer who was killed in an explosion at a service station in Creeslough, her funeral service has been told.
Everyone who met Jessica Gallagher, 24, knew her “radiant smile”, Fr John Joe Duffy told the service at St Michael’s church in the village.
It was the first funeral for one of the 10 victims of last Friday’s tragedy.
Ms Gallagher’s body was carried in a wicker casket to the front of the church, where 10 red candles have been lit to represent the victims.
A framed photograph of Jessica and a shirt she had been making, one of her first fashion commissions, were brought forward at the start of the service and placed on the casket.
The Irish Government was represented at the funeral by Agriculture Minister Charlie McConologue and Irish President Michael D Higgins was represented by his aide-de-camp. Donegal TD Joe McHugh and Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill were also in the congregation.
Members of the emergency services who had taken part in the recovery operation following the explosion in Creeslough also attended.
Fr John Joe Duffy expressed “sincere and heartfelt sympathies” to Jessica’s father and mother Anthony and Bernie, her sisters Lisa and Shauna Marie and her boyfriend Conor.
He said: “We would love to be able to put in our hands to your hearts and take away that grief and that pain that you are suffering this morning.
“But to even think of that would not be a sensible thing to do. Because in that void, in that grief, there you hold in your hearts Jessica.
“While we cannot take that pain away for you, we want to walk with you.
“We cannot feel your pain but we will walk with you in that pain because to even say that we feel that pain would not be right or not be fair to you, but we walk in that pain.
“The greater someone is loved, the greater that pain and that pain is so immense, and Jessica will forever remain in your heart, but she will also be with you, she will remain with you.”
Delivering his homily, Fr Duffy said Jessica “radiated a warm and positive feeling” to all who knew her well.
The priest said she left ripples of “love, affection, kindness and warmth” wherever she went.
Fr Duffy said Jessica was “bursting with energy and imagination”.
“Everyone who knew Jessica knew that radiant smile. That radiant smile that would light up a room with that infectious warmth that flowed from her,” he said
“She always brought that sun whether things were happy or difficult.”
He said she was a practical joker in the family and been known to put seaweed in people’s beds.
The cleric said her success in life was based on “hard work and determination”.
“Jessica was of a slender stature, but very strong, very strong, in every way possible,” he said.
“Strong in her own opinions, strong in her own self belief, in her determination.
“Her confidence was unstoppable. Honest and direct, she would tell you what she was thinking. But she could also let you tell her of what you thought of an opinion or a situation or a reality.
“Whether you liked it or not, or whether she liked it or not, she took it as it was.”
Fr Duffy said Jessica had friends across the world.
“Isn’t it appropriate for a girl that travelled to so many countries, that the hearts of so many people around the world are with you as a family.
“She took herself off to Paris to study fashion. She came to note in Paris and then she was given a place because of her exceptional talent to go on to study further in Shanghai.
“It was only the start of greater things to come.
“No matter how far she travelled or progressed, the place she was proud of was her beautiful family home.
“She used Donegal tweed in her designs, which helped to get her to Paris, and it always remained a feature of her design.
“Donegal was in her heart.”
Ms Gallagher, who was due to have started her new job in Belfast on Monday, was buried at Doe Cemetery after the mass.
