The day innocence died in Tullamore

Westmeath Independent Independent reporter Geraldine Grennan lives in Tullamore and writes here of what the town and its people have experienced and witnessed in recent days

Living in rural Ireland can almost lull one into a false sense of security. We are very familiar with our surroundings, are on friendly terms with our neighbours and we go about our daily business in what some people might perceive as a mundane and uneventful way.

That notion of security was shattered into a million pieces on a bright and sunny afternoon last week when a beautiful young woman whose future was filled with promise and possibility was brutally murdered as she went out for a jog along the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore.

Before Ashling Murphy’s murder, Tullamore was probably best known around the world as being home to a very famous brand of whiskey. Following the horrific events of the last week, it will forever more be known as the town where a young teacher went out for a jog after work and was attacked and brutally murdered in broad daylight.

That something like this could happen on a scenic walkway that is widely used by people of all ages has shocked the people of Tullamore and the wider area to the very core.

I have lived in Tullamore for almost 30 years and our family home is less than one kilometre from the nearest access point to the Grand Canal. The sight of a young woman jogging along that scenic route on a bright and sunny afternoon is so ordinary as to be unremarkable.

I have two daughters almost the same age as Ashling Murphy who walk and run along the Grand Canal regularly. In fact, it is the sheer ordinariness of what the tragic young schoolteacher was doing when she was randomly attacked and killed that has frightened people even more.

The sense of shock, anger, disbelief and overwhelming sorrow that has engulfed Tullamore over the past week has pervaded every aspect of life in the town. With a huge Garda presence throughout the week, numerous checkpoints, books of condolence, the glare of the national media and numerous candlelight vigils, it was impossible to get away from the tragedy unfolding before all our eyes.

Ashling Murphy, gifted musician, camogie player and teacher and, above all, an adored daughter, sister, girlfriend and friend could be any one of us, and indeed she is every one of us. We see her in the faces of our daughters, our sisters, our friends and we think the unthinkable “what if?”

In the face of such unimaginable grief, pain and loss, the dignity of the heartbroken Murphy family was almost too much for those of us looking on to bear as they attended not one, but three vigils in memory of their beloved youngest daughter and also visited the spot on the banks of the Grand Canal where her life so cruelly ended.

Meanwhile, our local parish priest, Fr Joe Gallagher, did his best to make sense of the senseless at the candlelit vigil in Tullamore Town Park when he simply said “this is a time of grief beyond words.”

Grown men, women and children were reduced to tears at the vigil and also at Masses over the weekend where priests of the parish struggled to impart some words of comfort to parishioners in the face of such an unspeakable tragedy.

Throughout the week a steady stream of people have been making their way up to the Town Park to gaze at the hauntingly beautiful picture of a smiling and carefree Ashling Murphy and ponder awhile at the heart-shaped display of candles and tealights that have been lighting up the night skies over Tullamore and countless corners of the country since the terrible news of her murder emerged.

Among the many poignant notes pinned to the memorial board in the Town Park on our visit over the weekend was a childish scrawl in big red writing which said “Ms. Murphy, I hope you have a good time in Heaven.”

If only we could preserve that innocence.