News
“Breda’s death has numbed this community”

By Michelle Crean
Killarney town came to a standstill yesterday (Thursday) to pay their respects to a lady who was much-loved in the community.
Breda Walshe (née Morrissey) from Lewis Road sadly died hours after suddenly becoming ill on Mother's day.
Breda, who was married to well known Legion man Enda Walshe, had spent a wonderful weekend with her family including celebrating her father-in-law Cathal Walshe as Grand Marshal in Friday's St Patrick's Day Parade.
Paramedics arrived to her home within eight minutes of her family finding her unconscious and after 50 minutes of treatment they managed to find a faint pulse. She was rushed to University Hospital Kerry however she sadly passed away surrounded by her family in the early hours of the morning.
Hundreds attended O'Shea's Funeral Home on Wednesday evening and again St Mary's Cathedral yesterday for her Funeral Mass which was concelebrated by 12 priests and Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne.
Breda, daughter of Eddie and Kathleen, had five sisters and one brother. She worked in Macs, The Laurels and Murphys before moving on to the presbytery.
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During her Funeral Mass, an emotional Fr Kieran O'Brien said that Breda loved her job cooking for the priests over the last three years and how "life will be different without her".
"She made our house a home. Breda's death has numbed this community."
In tribute to his wife, Enda said that they spent a nice day together on Sunday watching her favourite programmes.
"On Mother's Day we'd a lovely day." Reading a verse from a Barry White song he said Breda "You're my first, my last, my everything".
Cathal described her as a wonderful and dedicated mother to her daughters; Rebecca who is studying in UCC, and Amy who is in her Leaving Cert year.
"She was the daughter I never had," Cathal told the Killarney Advertiser.
"We got on like a house on fire. She was a brilliant person and I never ever saw her in bad form. When June [his wife] passed away she was so strong for me.”
Cathal added that Breda made him feel “like the most important person in the world”, and that he enjoyed their Friday trips to do the shopping together.
“She had a sense of humour and a sense of style and she was known all over. She loved her job in the presbytery. She was a human dynamo and treated everybody the same. I will never see anyone like her. I loved her to bits.”
Breda will be greatly missed by her husband Enda, her daughters Rebecca and Amy, her parents, father-in-law Cathal, and extended family and friends including her work colleagues.
News
Fassbender ready for second Le Mans appearance
Local Hollywood A-lister Michael Fassbender is in the final preparation stages for his second appearance at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The iconic endurance race is celebrating its […]

Local Hollywood A-lister Michael Fassbender is in the final preparation stages for his second appearance at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The iconic endurance race is celebrating its 100th edition next weekend.
The Fossa star has already arrived in the famous French twon where he is involved in a week-long series of engagements including drivers’ parades, autograph sessions and more serious appointments like car safety checks, practice and qualifying.
Like last year, when he finished 16th in the LMGTE Am class, Fassbender has been entered in to the event by the German Proton Competition team with Estonian Martin Rump and the Austrian Richard Lietz.
Fassbender dreams of following the trajectory of fellow Hollywood actors Patrick Dempsey who was second in LMGTE Am class in 2016 and Paul Newman who finished second overall in 1979.
News
Ireland’s oldest citizen has Killarney connections
Ireland’s oldest woman met with President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin this week. Máirín Hughes, who turned 109 on May 22 has strong Killarney connections. The previous record […]

Ireland’s oldest woman met with President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin this week.
Máirín Hughes, who turned 109 on May 22 has strong Killarney connections.
The previous record was held by 107-year-old Nancy Stewart who died on September 10 2021.
Although born in Belfast, Máirín went to school in the Mercy Convent. Her father was a customs and excise officer and the family moved around a lot eventually coming to Killarney after spells in County Down and Dublin.
Her mother came from the Rathmore area and her father was from Newmarket in County Cork.
She attended the Mercy Convent and has, in previous interviews, recalled growing up on the shores of Lough Lein.
“Neighbours who had three children were given the job of taking me to school,” she said. “They were annoyed because the children were going to school for two or three years but I was put in to the same class as them – my mother had taught me.”
In 2021 she featured in the book ‘Independence Memories: A People’s Portrait of the Early Days of the Irish Nation’, sharing stories of being kept in school in Killarney during an attack on the RIC barracks down the road.
In 1924 she started a degree in science and a diploma in education at University College Cork, before working in the pathology lab in University College Cork’s Department of Medicine for 16 years.
last year she recalled her story on the podcast: ‘Living History – Irish Life and Lore’.
During the broadcast she talked about her parents’ membership of the Gaelic League in 1910; the Spanish Flu in Ireland in 1918; The Black and Tans in Killarney in 1921; the early days of the new Free State; Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932, visiting the Basket Islands in 1929; and working in the UCC medical laboratory from 1932 until 1948.
This week President Michael D. Higgins hosted an afternoon tea event to celebrate the important role that a variety of people have and can play in different communities and Máirín was among the guests of honour.