This weekend will be particularly difficult for John and Eimear Lawlor from Kilkenny, and their children, Barry and Jack. It will mark one year since their beautiful 17-year-old daughter Ciara was attending her favourite band, Kodaline in Marley Park, on July 8th, 2016. She would not return home from that concert.
Ciara, who had a heart condition for which she was receiving treatment, was brought to Tallaght Hospital following her attendance at the concert, and was pronounced dead the following day, July 9th.
And now, coming up to this difficult anniversary, her family decided to speak exclusively to reporter, Brian O’Connell, who joined Cormac O hEadhra in the Today programme studio. The emotional fallout for the Lawlor family has been immense, as anyone can imagine, and the depth of the loss was clear in the words of Ciara’s mother, Eimear.
“Nobody should have to bury a child. She was so vivacious. She was just full of life. We were just so close.”
Eimear also took the opportunity to praise the sensitivity and understanding of the band, Kodaline, who attended the funeral, have kept in touch with the family, and have now written a song about Ciara, which will appear on their next album.
“It was probably one of the biggest funerals in Kilkenny. Thousands of young people. Nobody knew Kodaline was coming. They were all in shock. Kodaline came out and spoke. I remember they were very emotional, very sensitive, which was absolutely lovely. They spoke from the heart….. They sang “High Hopes” in the church. Nobody took out cameras to take pictures. It was total respect.”
To this day, Eimear finds it very difficult to say the name of her daughter. It’s particularly difficult, she says, when people stop and talk to her about their own memories of Ciara, as the tragedy is brought back home once again.
“She would stop and talk to everybody. They would tell me stories… I wouldn’t ignore them or anything, but I would be just saying, please, stop, I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t mind now, but I remember initially, I would nearly be swearing at them to stop in my head. I couldn’t take in anything. I do find it very hard to say her name still.”
One year on, the family have some issues that they feel are unresolved around Ciara's death. They are not happy with the way Crumlin Hospital in particular has responded to their concerns and they have now taken the decision to give their first public interview about this.
Eimear outlined to Brian how, at that time, Ciara had been waiting 10 weeks for a test. Nobody knows if this test could have prevented her death but the family think it might have picked up on the secondary heart issue that ultimately caused her death.
These issues were explored later in Brian’s report for the Today programme. You can hear details of the family’s concerns, and how the hospital has responded to those concerns, by listening back in full here.