Heartache as funeral of girl, 10, & mum killed in Cavan crash hears ‘kind’ schoolchild gave ‘gift of life to 4 kids’

A “KIND” young girl who died days after a Co Cavan crash that killed her mum gave the “gift of life” to four children who her organs were donated to, a joint funeral service heard today.

Irena ‘Ira’ Mereacre, 10, and her mum Nell Raven, 53, were laid to rest today, over a week after they were involved in a crash between a car and a van on the R162 road at Corclare in Shercock on July 24.

Former journalist and writer Nell, who was originally from the UK but recently celebrated becoming an Irish citizen, died at the scene.

Irena was airlifted to Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin after the collision but sadly passed away on Tuesday.

Nell’s husband Alexandru Mereacre told their joint funeral service today that the family of four moved to Ireland in 2019, and fell in love with an old cottage in the village of Milltown.

He said: “When Irena and Eveline joined Milltown school we knew that this was our place. This is where we belonged. We had a very happy life together.

“Nell raised the family, worked on her book, made new friends, restored the cottage, fought cancer and was the best wife I could wish for.”

Ira was a pupil of Milltown National School, located in the parish of Drumlane in Cavan.

She appeared on the Late Late Toy Show on RTE last Christmas, representing the Breffni county in the Toy Show county parade.

Alexandru said Ira was a creative child who took up Irish dancing when she moved to Ireland, adding that she had many gifts but “most importantly she learned how to be a kind sister, daughter and very good friend.”

Father Sean McDermott told mourners at St Patrick’s Church in Milltown that Ira inherited her gifts for art and writing from her mother.

Fr McDermott said she was shy when the family first moved to Milltown from the UK in 2019, but she soon became “a chatterbox” who was full of “life and joy and fun”.

He said the family had opted to donate her organs following her death and had assisted four other children and their families.

Nell was born in Wales and met her first husband when they were both journalists with the Press Association in London.

She spent three years living in Pakistan where she provided freelance copy to the Telegraph amongst other UK national newspapers.

Her daughters Eveline and Violet Elizabeth Kemp were born in Pakistan.

Ms Raven’s husband Alexandru Mereacre spoke about his “13-year love story” with his wife which began in Oxford in 2013.

They met when he was working at the university and she was starting her career as a novelist. The couple married in October 2014 and Ira was born in Oxford in July 2016.

On Wednesday, a GoFundMe page was set up by Keith Conefrey to raise funds for the family after their “devastating loss”.

The page said the community in the area is “shocked and devastated” for them.

Conefrey said: “We hope the donations received on this page will at the very least relieve some financial pressures on the family while they try to cope with this devastating loss.”

Over €34,000 has been raised through over 600 donations since it was created at around 11am on Wednesday.