The funeral mass of a 59-year-old woman who died after an attack near her home in Ballinlough in Cork city earlier this month has heard that she brought "goodness and beauty to this world".
Family, friends and members of the local community gathered at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Ballinlough today for the funeral mass of Stella Gallagher.
Her husband Brian Gallagher, who was also injured in the attack, was at the mass along with the couple's adult children Ciara, Conor and Mark.
Brian Gallagher was among the pallbearers who carried the coffin out of the church at the conclusion of the service for burial at St Michael's cemetery in nearby Blackrock.
Alan Gallagher, a brother-in-law of Stella Gallagher, said a few words on behalf of his brother Brian during the requiem mass. Mr Gallagher said Stella had 30 wonderful years of life with her family.
"When I asked them what some of their good memories of Stella were, they looked back at me and said they were all good. She was a joy to be around and great fun. She was game for anything and would go anywhere and have a good time."
Mr Gallagher emphasised that Stella loved meeting people and chatting with them.
"Whether her many relatives, cousins and second cousins, or someone she had just met. She loved going on outings with people, whether for a hike in the country or to a film or on a shopping trip."
Mr Gallagher also recalled the activities that made Stella "really light up with joy" including singing, gardening and baking.
"We are so grateful to have shared our lives with this lovely person. We love you, Stella, and we always will."
Mr Gallagher closed his eulogy with a few lines by American short story writer Raymond Carver.
"And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the Earth."
Meanwhile, Monsignor Gearóid Dullea, co-parish priest in Ballinlough, told mourners that the death of Stella had left her loved ones "broken hearted" and "bewildered".
He stated that her "shocking death" had brought a "great pall of sadness" not only over the Gallagher and Griffin families but also on the wider community.
"Stella’s colleagues from her work in Eli Lilly, the local communities in Ballinlough and Ballinspittle, her friends and the Togher Community Garden and her fellow singers in the SHEP choir. Stella’s death has shocked us, stunned us and shaken us.
"Stella was deeply loved as wife, as mother, as sister, as daughter-in-law, as sister-in-law, as aunt, as cousin, as friend. She was a positive person, often humming a song, with a quiet religious faith," he said.
Offertory gifts included apples representing Stella’s love of gardening, sourdough signifying her enjoyment of baking, sheet music arising of her fondness for music and a gift box symbolising her generous and giving nature.
Monsignor Dullea celebrated the mass alongside Fr Gerard Dunne and Rev Alan Marley, both of whom were representing University College Cork.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was represented by his Aide de Camp, Commandant Joe Glennon.
