A NORTH Belfast woman who was forced to have her elderly mother's funeral in a church car park due to a security alert has told how she has been left "devastated" by the scene.
Sheila McDonnell said her family's "final goodbye" with their mother, Bridie had been `stolen' from them.
Bridie McDonnell, who was a great-grandmother, died on Wednesday following a three-year battle with breast cancer.
The 76-year-old's funeral had been planned for yesterday at 11am at Holy Cross Church in north Belfast.
However, as the funeral procession made its way to the church, it was diverted due to a security alert at the nearby Houben Centre on the Crumlin Road, where Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was in attendance at an peace-building event.
As a result, the funeral procession could not enter Holy Cross Church through the main gates and so, another entrance was used.
However, on arrival at the church, the family were told they would not be allowed to go inside and instead, prayers over the remains would be offered in the car park.
Speaking to The Irish News, Sheila McDonnell said her family were left "devastated" by their mother's send-off which was "some sort of service in the middle of the car park".
"The priest did 10 minutes of prayers and that was it," she said.
"I have a 14-year-old niece who has special needs who was devastated, heartbroken. How do you explain to her why we couldn't get granny into the chapel? We had an order of service with the grandchildren all doing the prayers and we had special music picked for her. We couldn't even get to thank the nurses."
The mother-of-two said she had been left feeling "angry".
"My mummy's special day was taken away from her. My mummy was very devout in her religion. This was our final goodbye for her. It was stolen from us. They ruined the whole day. In Milltown, she was lowered into the ground. The priest did a couple of prayers and that was it," she said.
Sheila said her mother's funeral had been "completely destroyed".
"We didn't get to give my mummy her final send-off that she deserved because of these people," she said.
"They stole the last precious moments we had with our mummy."
