The funeral of Tipperary teenager Elisha Gault has taken place this morning.
The 14 year-old went missing from her home in Carrick on Suir on St. Patrick's Day and her body was recovered last Sunday evening.
It followed a comprehensive eight-day search in the area, which included rescue teams from Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny.
The chief celebrant at the funeral Mass for teenager Elisha Gault has urged young people to form strong support networks around themselves and to prioritise “real people” rather than the “artificial friends” to be found on social media.
Elisha was buried today in Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, following funeral Mass at the Church of the Assumption.
Her heartbroken parents Grainne Gault and Cameron Moore helped to carry the teenager’s coffin into the church for the Mass, attended by hundreds of people including many of similar age to the much-loved young girl, and on its final journey afterward to the graveyard across the road.
Elisha’s sisters Bhrianna, Chloe-Nicole and Saoirse were also comforted by family members and friends.
Elisha’s body was found in the river Suir on Sunday evening by search and rescue helicopter crew members taking part in the multi-agency search which had got under way more than a week earlier when she was reported missing by her family.
She was last seen alive on Dillon Bridge in Carrick-on-Suir on St Patrick’s night.
As her remains left her home on New Street in Carrick yesterday morning, hundreds lined the streets of the town in silence as the cortege made its way to Dillon Bridge.
There, family members and many friends dropped white flowers into the river in remembrance of the much-loved 14-year-old, before the funeral moved on to Piltown.
Parish priest Fr Paschal Moore, who concelebrated the Mass with other priests from the area, described Elisha as a “beautiful young girl” and said it was a sad morning for her family, her schoolmates from Comeragh College, the staff of the college, the community, and all her friends.
In his homily, Fr Moore said Elisha’s death has given rise to many emotions among family members and the community: disbelief, shock, anger, guilt, even abandonment.
He encouraged young young people to “form a support network” around themselves, to turn off their iPhones every now and again, and said they needed “real people” around them rather than the “artificial friends” found on Facebook.
