Loving mum-of-two Amanda dedicated her life to her family
THE shadow of the Carrickmines fire tragedy still hangs over Bray, as the twin sister of one of its victims was laid to rest this week.
A large crowd of mourners attended the funeral of the late Amanda Gilbert (29) at St Peter’s Church in Little Bray last Monday.
Amanda never recovered from the death of her twin sister Tara in the tragedy of 2015, the congregation heard during the moving ceremony.
Amanda died in the early hours of last Friday morning, to the shock and sadness of her heartbroken family and communities in Bray and Newtown.
She is survived by her partner Ryan and their children Savanah and Callum, her father Harry, and her extended family and friends.
Ryan told the church full of people that he and the children had loved Amanda very much. ‘I promise I’ll do my best for them no matter what,’ he said.
‘You were such a kind, loving person who spent every moment of every day making sure were happy. We will never forget you. I will never forget the good times we had together. I just hope that you are at peace now.’
Like her sister, Amanda was a past pupil of Scoil Chualann and Coláiste Ráithín in Bray, and a fluent Irish speaker. A native of Fassaroe, she lived more recently in Newtownmountkennedy.
Fr Larry Behan recalled that at the time of the tragic fire on Glenamuck Road in Carrickmines which took Tara and nine others, Amanda said to him ‘I’ve lost the other half of me’.
The girls, in happier times, were best friends and would share everything – from earrings and makeup to clothes and hair extensions.
He said that the sisters had shared a ‘very, very special and unique bond.’
In the days following Tara’s death, Amanda told the Bray People that her sister’s family was her life, her children and her partner Willy Lynch.
Five adults and five children died in a fire at the halting site on October 10, 2015. Tara was 27 at the time and visiting friends there along with her fiancée Willy Lynch, and daughters Jodie (9) and Kelsey (4). Tara was expecting a baby at the time.
Willy’s brother Jimmy (39), their sister Sylvia Connors (30), her husband Thomas Connors (27), and their children Jim (5), Christy (3) and baby Mary also died.
Amanda often went to the family grave in Springfield cemetery. ‘She’d be tidying up and talking quietly to them,’ said Fr Behan.
He said she did her best to dedicate her life to her family. ‘She had a huge impact on their lives and Savanah especially idolised her,’ he said.
‘But I think it’s fair to say that Amanda never really began the process of starting to get over Tara’s death and the death of all the others.’
He said that her immense pain is now over and she is at peace.
‘Whatever any of us here this morning might be feeling – anger at God, anger at Amanda, guilt, bewilderment, whatever - we need God to help us start to be able to deal with it,’ said the priest.
He said that nobody will ever know the depth of pain and desperation that drove Amanda to take her own life, and that one cannot understand the burden of pain with which she lived and died.
Amanda was laid to rest at Springfield Cemetery.