‘She made others feel seen’ – Funeral of teacher Chloe McGee (23) killed in Louth crash hears
The 23-year-old was involved in the road traffic accident last Saturday that killed five young people in Co Louth
The 23-year-old teacher, who had recently returned from a holiday in Dubai with her boyfriend, had just been made permanent in her school, Ó Fiaich Institute.
She was described as a “bubbly character with infectious laughter” at Saint Joseph’s Church, Carrickacross, Co Monaghan, this morning.
Chloe McGee.
Mourners also gathered yesterday for the funerals of Chloe’s boyfriend, Alan McCluskey, and their friend Dylan Commins.
Chloe McGee (23) and Shay Duffy (21), both from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, Mr McCluskey and Dylan Commins (23), both from Drumconrath, Meath, and Chloe Hipson (21), from Lanarkshire in Scotland, all died on Saturday evening.
They were travelling together in a Volkswagen Golf on their way to Dundalk for a night out.
President Catherine Connolly arrives for the funeral of Chloe McGee at St Joseph’s Church in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. The 23-year-old died in a car crash alongside her boyfriend Alan McCluskey and their friends Shay Duffy, Dylan Commins and Chloe Hipson when their Volkswagen Golf was in a collision with a Toyota Land Cruiser on a road near Dundalk on November 15. Picture date: Saturday November 22, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Conor O Mearain/PA Wire
A sixth person who was in the car, also aged in his 20s, was taken to hospital for non-life threatening injuries and has since been discharged.
During the requiem mass, Monsignor Shane McCaughey said: “Today, your hearts are broken, Kieran and Eileen, Aaron, Stephen, Nicola and all the family and friends and neighbours of Chloe.
“Yet we can all say today; thank God for the life of Chloe McGee, thank God for her twenty-three years of life, thank God for her fun and her joy, for her determination to overcome obstacles and her willingness to achieve her goals, for her energy and her dancing, for her charming smile and his radiant love.”
Monsignor Shane McCaughey receives the coffin of Chloe McGee for her funeral service St Joseph’s Church in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Conor O Mearain/PA Wire
President Catherine Connolly was among the mourners this morning, along with Chief Superintendent Alan McGovern, Superintendent Charlie Armstrong, Inspectors Ann Marie Gallagher and Martina Gardiner, the Garda Liaison officer.
The gifts representing Chloe’s life included a family and graduation photo, car keys, a photo of Chloe and Alan, a cowboy hat, Chloe’s passport, an Ó Fiaich Institute top, a hairdressing tunic and a birdhouse.
They reflected a joyful and beloved daughter, friend, girlfriend and teacher.
Her car keys were also “her independence, it was her way of being,” said Monsignor McCaughey.
The Ó Fiaich Institute top represented her three years working for the school in Dundalk, along with the hair dressing tunic from the salon she worked in Monaghan.
The cowboy hat referenced her “love of country music, jiving and dancing,” and the birdhouse was a creation from her teacher training.
During the mass, her brother Aaron spoke from the heart of his sister, who “made others feel seen”.
Tribute wreaths sit atop the hearse at the funeral of Chloe McGee at St Joseph’s Church in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Conor O Mearain/PA Wire
He said: “You chase travel, the way you chase happiness, eagerly and freely, as if adventure were a friend calling your name.
“You left echoes in places you’ve never been to, empty chairs, unfinished plans, plans that still reach for you without thinking, but you also went to light, and the laughter you gave so easily, and the way you made others feel seen in the warmth that has outlived the moment you are taken.”
“We carry you forward, not as a shadow of loss, but it’s quiet truth that life, even a short one, can be bright enough to change the people who loved you,” he added.
Shay Duffy’s funeral takes place this afternoon.
