Chai Brady
Lyra McKee A year on from the tragic death of journalist Lyra McKee clergy have said restoring Stormont was a “fitting tribute”, as her “passion was to bring together people who think they are divided”.
Fr Martin Magill PP of St John’s Parish on the Falls Road and Fr Stephen Forde, Dean of Belfast released a joint statement on the anniversary of the funeral of Lyra McKee today.
Last Saturday (April 18) marked one year since Lyra McKee was shot dead while covering an attack on the PSNI in the Creggan in Derry on Maundy Thursday evening.
“As news of Lyra’s death was relayed across our land and across the world on Good Friday morning, there was a deep sense of dread that the community was sliding back into a downward spiral of violence and murder,” the priests said.
“There was the fear that the gains of 20 years of peace-building under the Good Friday Agreement could easily be lost to a new generation, those who did not remember the killings and destruction of the long decades of the Troubles.”
“At the same time, Lyra left behind a grieving family – her mum Joan, her three sisters Joan, Nichola and Mary, her two brothers Gary and David, and her partner Sara.
“Also grieving her murder was the wide circle of friends whose lives were touched, shaped or challenged by the person Lyra was across many boundaries.”
Her funeral service was held in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast and was attended by many well-known politicians including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, former Prime Minister Theresa May, Tánaiste Simon Coveney, leaders of Sinn Féin and the DUP and many more. The priests describe it as an “emotionally charged” event.
They said: “The cathedral was packed, inside and out, with those of Lyra’s post-Troubles generation, who wanted to build a new and different community to one of sectarian division and deep-seated bigotry.
“Today, one year on, and in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, we want to commend the First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill, along with the British and Irish governments, for seizing the moment of Lyra’s funeral to find a way to re-establish the Power Sharing Executive at Stormont.
“Their working together, along with the Executive ministers, health professionals and ordinary people from every background, has been essential to support this community through this unprecedented coronavirus crisis.
“Their working partnership is a fitting tribute to Lyra, whose passion was to bring together people who think they are divided.”