Mum’s emotional ‘I can hold up my head high’ funeral tribute to son, 17, killed in Clare hit-&-run as priest makes plea

THE funeral of a teenager killed in a hit-and-run in Clare heard how parents are “full of fear” of the society kids are growing up in.

Fr Richard Davern, addressing mourners attending the funeral of Bryan Lowe, asked the congregation “what is happening in our society?” as loved ones paid their final farewell to the tragic teenager.

Bryan, 17, lost his life in the horror incident after he was struck by a Skoda Octavia when he was on an e-scooter at Cottage Cross, in Co Clare on September 4 – with the driver fleeing the scene.

Questioning the lack of respect for life in modern society, Fr Davern told the teen’s funeral: “So many parents today are full of fear of the world that their children and indeed their grandchildren are growing up in.”

“What is happening in our society, where do we turn, how can some sections of society have lost all connection to God,” Fr Davern said.

The priest asked journalists to “turn the mirror” on Irish society “and write about the deeper questions that are in every heart and mind of the people in this church today”.

He added that Bryan, a sixth-year student at St Munchin’s College, Corbally, Limerick, had been “determined” to complete his Leaving Certificate exams in September.

And, although “school was not his thing, it was with his hands that he was going to carve out a career for himself” in the construction sector.

The priest said the boy’s family and all who knew him were “devastated, traumatised, and feeling utterly lost”.

And Fr Davern asked the family to “trust the authorities and give them the time needed, that they will see to it that the truth and justice around Bryan’s death will be established”.

He added that the boy’s death was “tragically cruel”.

A local singer brought the church to a standstill and tears as she performed the Joan Baez song All My Trials.

Students from St Munchin’s College performed guards of honour outside St Nicholas Church, Westbury, Corbally, as Bryan’s blue-coloured coffin was shouldered in and out of the church by members of his family, including his parents, Crystal and Brian.

Crystal thanked St Munchin’s College and her son’s fellow students for their “support”.

She told mourners: “Bryan was a great boy, and the boys in St Munchin’s have done him so so proud. I can hold up my head high knowing he is a boy I reared.”

Addressing her son’s fellow classmates and friends, she said: “I know it’s also very hard for ye all, if I can ask ye for anything, it is that ye just remember Bryan in the divine mercy, thank you very much and God bless.”

The boy’s family prayed “for the first responders who attended the scene, and for the gardai who continue to work on Bryan’s case – may God give them strength, wisdom, courage and compassion, in the difficult work they do each day”.

A cousin also told mourners: “Bryan always put a smile on people’s faces, he adored his family, he valued the people around him and he never lost sight of where he came from.”

“He had a great personality and a lovely smile that could light up a room; and that is what makes this so difficult, Bryan was a young man who should have many more years with his family, to laugh, to work and enjoy himself.

“He had a hunger to work, a hunger to learn, a hunger to improve himself, a hunger to be better, and while he had strength and a great work ethic, he had a gentleness about him, a good heart, and he cared about people.

“Bryan was a kind and caring young man, he was also somebody you could count on, somebody who could have a laugh with you, stand beside you, and somebody who made life a bit brighter.”

A guard of honour was performed by local motorcycle clubs who led and escorted the funeral cortège from the church to Doonass Cemetery, where Bryan Lowe was laid to rest.

Gardai are “following a definite line of enquiry” in their enquiries into Bryan’s death, and it is understood they are examining whether the boy was deliberately run down.

Cops searched a number of residential properties last week and seized evidential items as part of their investigation.

Investigators said they wanted to speak to the driver and occupants of a silver/gold coloured Skoda Octavia, registration 05-C-5982, which was seen driving in the Clonlara and Castleconnell area on the night in question, and also at some point on the following morning.