MOURNERS gathered at a house in Muff today to bid a final farewell to Ashlea (Ash) Harkin, the 25-year-old who lost his life after a single-vehicle collision last Saturday, with a funeral service that was both deeply moving and a celebration of a life lived with quiet grace.
Chief celebrant Roisin McFadden set the tone with an opening acknowledgement of the profound grief.
“The circumstances that bring us here today are ones that no family ever imagines, and no words can truly prepare us for a loss like this,” she told the mourners.
The late Ashlea Harkin.
“The death of someone so young feels impossible to understand. There is a sense of shock and sadness that comes with it, because deep down we know that this simply should not be happening.”
Roisin described Ashlea as a young man who had quietly found his way into people’s hearts – a careful listener who remembered small details months after they were shared, who judged himself more harshly than anyone else ever would, and who understood, long before many others do, that time itself is among the greatest gifts one person can offer another.
She recalled how his mother Breda remembered a perfect little baby with blond hair and bright blue eyes, and spoke with tenderness of the way the family sat close beside him in his final moments, hands held tightly – hands that had also been held tightly as a child.
Family and friends gather at the funeral of Ashlea Harkin.
“There are some images too painful for words to fully reach,” Roisin said, “and perhaps this is one of them.”
His girlfriend Corrie-Lee was described with warmth, with Roisin describing the connection that had been immediate between Ashlea and Corrie-Lee as instinctive – a love, she said, that began at “first text”.
Stuart who represented a group of Ashlea’s friends said “He was the type of guy to genuinely put others’ needs before his own. My brother, my best friend – until we meet again.”
Roisin closed by appealing to all present to carry Ashlea forward – to speak his name, tell his stories, and hold tightly to the many parts of him that remain.
Ashlea Harkin and family, on his final journey to Lakelands Crematorium, Co. Cavan.
Ashlea is survived by his parents Breda and Dave (Eleanor), his brother Dáithí, his partner Corrie-Lee, grandparents Olwyn, Alan and Marie, and his uncle and aunt Dubhaltagh and Vicky.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Buncrana Garda Station on 074 9320540, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.