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HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE attended a vigil in Edenderry tonight to mourn 60-year-old Mary Holt and her grand-nephew, four-year-old Tadgh Farrell, who were killed in a petrol bomb attack on Saturday.
Tadgh’s grandmother, Pauline, is still being treated in hospital for serious burns.
There was a general feeling of shock, grief, and sadness at the vigil; the large crowd, holding tealights, walked around the local football pitch four times, a lap for every year of Tadgh’s life.
But there was also a feeling of anger.
Shortly beforehand, gardaí released the CCTV footage of the attack on the house in Castleview Park where the attack took place.
The fire shows up on camera as a bright, white light that engulfs the frame after two people believed to be the perpetrators run away from the scene.
Pat McBride of Derry Rovers – the football club that organised the vigil tonight – knows the area well. His sister lives in the house next door to where the attack happened.
Speaking to The Journal this evening, he said that Edenderry was coming out to show that it is “united” against the “scourge of drugs” on the community.
“Derry Rovers came forward because we are so close to the scene of the crime. We knew the families. People feel very hurt, sad and fearful. We did this to have the people of Edenderry come together in solidarity against drugs.
“I’m glad we got such a good turnout tonight, it sends a message not just to Edenderry but to towns right across the country, people won’t put up with this anymore,” he said.
Edenderry is Co Offaly’s second-largest town, and in recent years it has become a commuter town for Dublin, which locals tonight said has seen it become a drugs trade hotspot at the same time.
Hundreds in Edenderry gathered to walk four laps of the Derry Rovers pitch this evening, a lap for every year of Tadhg Farrell's life, the little boy who was killed alongside his grand aunt Mary Holt in a petrol bomb attack at the weekend. pic.twitter.com/4dKRMdSDBF
— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) December 10, 2025
The house where Mary and Tadgh were attacked is right next to the pitch grounds where people gathered tonight.
Outside people have left lights, flowers, and messages. On one white balloon someone has written with marker: “He was only 4. RIP Tadgh”.
The number four is underlined twice.
Another message says: “Rest in Peace Tadgh and Mary, you will forever be in my heart. I am so lucky you got to be part of my life. Heaven has gained two beautiful angels. Rest easy.”
Behind the wall of lights and flowers, the house is boarded up with a pile of ash and rubble out front. In a quiet housing estate where the other homes are adorned with Christmas decorations, it’s a haunting sight.
People were in tears as they silently walked the pitch grounds.
Deborah Smullen, a local woman, said that the community is united in the face of this tragedy “because we have to be”.
“I have teenage boys, this is not what I want them to be around. Everyone is feeling it. It’s a case of ‘there but by the grace of God’. It’s a scourge on this town and other towns, and scourge on society,” she said.
Lisa O’Reilly, who was involved with organising the vigil, said that parents in the town are worried.
“We have kids, and the town is not what it used to be, it’s changed dramatically, as every other town has. When you have younger kids, you are always watching – you have to be,” she said.
Paul Cummins, a man in his 60s who attended the vigil, spoke even more strongly.
“I’m from down the road, very close to where that woman and that little boy was murdered. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it here, I’m dead against drugs, I’m dead against fellas that deal drugs, they destroy lives. My grandson is the same age as that little boy and it makes me sick to my stomach.
“That house behind us here is where that young lad died. He didn’t get a chance to open his Christmas presents; he never will again. It’s disgusting.
“It’s nothing but greed and drugs, that’s why that young lad is dead today, and I hope they are caught, every last one of them,” he said.
Several people at the vigil spoke about how Mary Holt cared for their family members in the decades she spent working in the local nursing home.
Kayleen Nolan, who sang as people walked the pitch tonight, went to school with Tadgh Farrell’s mother.
She said that what has happened is unthinkable, and that it will have a long-term impact on the town.
“We are a tightknit community in Edenderry, we all stick together. Most people from Edenderrry who get sick and need care when they are older go there [to the local nursing home]. To think that she cared for all those people in the community and now she’s been… this is what has happened to her is just awful,” she said.
She added that while petrol bomb attacks are something you see “in movies and TV shows”, it is “unbelievable to have this devastation on your doorstep, and to have it happen to people you know.”
The funeral of Tadgh Farrell will take place on Friday in Edenderry, while the funeral of Mary Holt will take place over the weekend.
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