Leaders unite to remember the girl from ‘Lyraderry’
EQUALITY, compassion, exposing the corrupt and holding the powerful to account: words Lyra Mckee lived by.
Yesterday during a memorial service to the 29-year-old journalist murdered by a dissident New IRA gunman in Londonderry, those same sentiments echoed in Belfast Cathedral as a priest challenged the assembled politicians to put aside their differences and create a lasting peace in Northern Ireland in her memory.
“Why in God’s name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get to this point?” said Father Martin Magill, a local parish priest, prompting a standing ovation inside and outside the cathedral – and applause from gathered political leaders including British Prime Minister Theresa May, Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn and Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar.
Seated alongside one another, the leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, Arlene Foster and Mary Lou Mcdonald, whose disagreements have led to a paralysis in government in Northern Ireland since 2017, joined in the applause.
As well as castigating Northern Ireland’s political leaders, Father Magill, who met Mckee as she investigated unexplained murders during the Troubles for a forthcoming book, addressed those responsible for her death. Mckee died during rioting on the Creggan estate last Thursday when a gunman fired at police officers she was standing alongside.
He said: “I encourage you to reflect on Lyra Mckee, journalist and writer, as a powerful example of the pen being mightier than the sword. I plead with you to take the route of non-violence to achieve your political ends.”
Born in 1990 and just eight when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, the touchstones of her young life stood out throughout the service.
Mourners arrived in Harry Potter scarves and Marvel superhero T-shirts. The cortege was garlanded with rainbow flowers spelling “Team Lyra” in a nod to her campaigning for gay rights in Northern Ireland. Sara Canning, sitting with her partner’s family in the front row, was in tears as the coffin passed by. Stephen Lusty, a friend and first to pay tribute before the congregation, described being shown an engagement ring by Mckee on the day of her death and her plans to propose to her partner next month.
He said the pair often joked about the politicised title of Londonderry – a city to which she had recently moved – adding that following the murder, “it has a new name to all but the soulless and sickened: Lyraderry”. Nichola Corner, Mckee’s elder sister, spoke of their upbringing in a single-parent Catholic family in Belfast, and of the close connection she had with their mother, Joan, 68. She said: “The pain of the absence of Lyra from our mum’s life will never ease but we know that while a broken heart can never be mended and an empty space never filled, the unconditional love they share for each other will continue for eternity.”
Stephen Forde, Dean of Belfast, said Mckee was “a person who broke down barriers”. And 320 miles away, at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, the spiritual home of British journalism, 29 candles flickered on the altar steps.