The funeral service for mother-of-four Martina Martin, one of 10 people killed in the Creeslough blast, has heard she had "an abundance of love".
Mrs Martin, 49, was working in the shop when the explosion took place at a service station in the rural Co Donegal village.
The family walked behind the hearse as it arrived at St Michael’s Church in Creeslough.
Crowds once again lined the streets and gathered at the entrance to the church to say goodbye to another member of their community.
“She was sensitive to the needs of others and to those who are sensitive to the needs of others, life offers innumerable opportunities to practice the commandment of love,” Fr John Joe Duffy told the congregation.
“Real love requires hard work and patience. It requires doing up rotas on a board in the kitchen of the house telling you, the children, what your tasks are; emptying the bins, which I’m sure you did without fail.
“Putting out the bins, washing the dishes, which I’m sure great care was given to, and taking Dusty, Sophie and Junior for a walk.
“Dusty being the dog and Sophie and Junior being the cats. She offered you that love, that love in helping you prepare for the realities of life, and she did it so very well.
“For real love, for her, was a way of life.
“Her quick wit, her straight talking was done and given with love and with goodness.”
The mourners attending Requiem Mass for Martina Martin were also told that she loved the people of Creeslough.
“And we, each and every one of us who knew her, very much loved her,” Fr Duffy added.
“She was very special to us. She was very special to her colleagues and she was very special to us all.
“If we were having a bad day, the quick wit would lift us up. She cared for the customers in another way.
“Martina’s friends describe her as your mother hen, your mother hen to the core, she lived for you.
“She lived for you, her children. She never missed a birthday and loved to meet for a coffee to catch up.
“Martina was a beautiful person, her beauty inside radiated in that kind of cheeky mischievous smile which flowed out to you when you met her.
“She was the voice of reason when others were hurting.
“She never minced her words and was the kindest friend you could ever have. She was the life and soul of any night-out, she didn’t dwell on the problems she was facing, but put others first.”
'A loyal sister'
Martina Martin was also described as a “loyal sister” who always had her siblings’ backs.
Her children described her as the “ultimate mammy bear” who stuck up for them through thick and thin.
“She protected you and she kept you safe and taught you right from wrong. She was preparing you for life,” Fr Duffy added.
“She is very proud of each one of the four of you. She will continue to be proud of each of you and your achievements, and she would want you to do and achieve the very best in life for yourself.
“You were blessed to have the best mother who loved you so dearly and cared for you so much.
“She believed in you and wanted you to be happy.”
Fr Duffy added: “Martina was a frontline person in this community. We have all of us, as a world, struggled through Covid but she was one of the people who was on the front line serving our community together with her colleagues who gave us such tremendous service through that time.
“The only place that was opened, when even this church was closed, was the shop. She was there with you, her colleagues, at the front line, being a place of comfort and being a place of consolation for us.”
Fr John Joe Duffy, the parish priest of Creeslough, said he will avail of counselling services following the tragedy.
Fr Duffy told the congregation that staff in the local medical practice have urged all the victims’ families and members of the community to make contact with them about counselling services.
He said he will contact them on Thursday.
Counselling services are being provided by the Health Service Executive.
Fr Duffy also thanked the local GP and staff working at the health centre in Creeslough who kept their door open since the tragedy struck the village.
Martina Martin was 'at the heart of the community'
Mourners were told how she worked at the heart of the community in an “exceptionally nice place”, and that customers would have met her naturally friendly face.
“She was at work as normal, doing what she did, doing what she liked, doing what she loved, doing what was routine to us all and then, what turned out as a normal day, ended up a very different way to the way that it ordinarily would,” Fr Duffy added.
“All things changed, events outside our control, outside the control indeed of any one of us, those few seconds of time last Friday have impacted so much on you as a family and on so many other families and on all of us.
“Seconds that changed in time, that led to the changing for future generations of our village, our community and communities beyond. The events of last Friday will be forever etched in our hearts.”
He said that the community of Creeslough is growing in strength each day to get through the hours and days ahead.
“Creeslough is a small village, but it is now more than just that. It is now a word for determination, for resolve and for togetherness and how important togetherness is,” Fr Duffy added.
“This tragedy has reignited within all of us, myself included, that each one of us are only as strong as the families we have around us, only as strong as the community that surrounds us.”
Bishop of Raphoe Alan McGuckian concluded the service with a prayer before Hallelujah was played as mourners exited St Michael’s Church.
Mrs Martin’s body is to be taken to Lakelands Crematorium later this afternoon.
President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and the Taoiseach’s aide-de-camp were among those attending Requiem Mass.
The service was the sixth funeral for the victims of Friday’s tragedy, and the fifth to be held at St Michael’s Church.
The funerals of Jessica Gallagher, 24, and Martin McGill, 49, were held in Creeslough on Tuesday.
The funerals of Catherine O’Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13, were held in Creeslough yesterday afternoon, while a service for James O’Flaherty, 48, was held in the morning in Derrybeg.
Mr O’Flaherty’s teenage son Hamish addressed the congregation at the end of the service, asking people to be grateful for their families and their lives.
“We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they won’t be there forever.
“Use the time you have wisely. Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever.”
The funeral of 14-year-old Leona Harper will take place at St Mary’s Church in Ramelton this afternoon.
