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# ashling murphy
Ashling Murphy: Funeral arrangements announced as vigils continue across the country
Vigils will be held in Co Kilkenny and Co Armagh this afternoon in memory of Ashling.
ASHLING MURPHY WILL be laid to rest on Tuesday in Co Offaly.
The funeral mass for the 23-year-old school teacher will take place at 11.00am at St Brigid’s Church in Mount Bolus, followed by her burial at Lowertown Cemetery.
Parish priest of Kilcormac and Killoughney Father Michael Meade will be the chief celebrant at the mass, which will be attended by family and close friends.
A live stream of the service will be available on the Memorial Lane website. Messages of condolences can be left for Ashling’s family on RIP.ie or on Lawless Funerals website.
It comes as vigils took place across Ireland and beyond for a third day in memory of Ashling.
This afternoon, vigils will be held in Co Kilkenny and in Co Armagh in memory of Ashling.
Vigils have spread beyond Ireland in recent days, with events organised in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as in Brisbane, Australia.
At a vigil in north London yesterday, a large number of people queued in Camden Square to sign a book of condolence and lay flowers.
People held candles and stood in silent tribute outside the London Irish Centre.
The vigil took place at around 4pm – the time at which police said the fatal assault occurred on the banks of the Grand Canal in the Irish town on Wednesday.
Traditional music was played in honour of Ashling, a talented fiddle player, while some of the crowd quietly sang or hummed along.
A minute’s silence was held, after which the young teacher’s favourite song, When You Were Sweet Sixteen, was sung.
Anna Johnston, cultural officer at the London Irish Centre, said people had come together in solidarity with those who knew and loved Ashling “and all the women of Ireland and further afield who are angry, distressed and heartbroken”.
Addressing the crowd, she added: “Today, along with Ashling, we remember all the women who have had their lives stolen through gender-based violence. We shouldn’t be here, and Ashling should be.”
The vigils come amid widespread calls for an end to violence against women.
Activist and former TD Ruth Coppinger called on Saturday for a “major conference” on gender-based violence.
“This is a watershed moment that must be tapped and lead to meaningful change,” she said.
Politicians have promised that all resources necessary will be provided to the gardaí to find the killer.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said there is “a determination in An Garda Síochána” to bring Ashling’s killer to justice.
Writing in the Irish Independent, she said: “I have told the Garda Commissioner that every resource will be made available to assist gardaí in their work, and I again appeal for anyone with information to bring it to gardaí.”
She said there is also a wider determination that we as a society must come together to demand zero tolerance of violence against women.
The scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based abuse and violence has been treated with a blind eye, from the exasperated acceptance of the lewd remark to the reluctance to pry beyond someone’s front door when we knew a woman was suffering inside.
“I myself often accepted it as just the way it was — that I had to take extra precautions as I walked home after a night out or had to put up with some casual misogyny. This will not be tolerated any longer.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that Ashling’s murder has “united the nation in solidarity and revulsion”.
“No stone will be left unturned in terms of bringing this investigation to a completion and to bring the person responsible for this to justice,” he said on Friday.
With reporting from Press Association.
