By Briege Madden and Paul Neilan

LAST SUNDAY a large number of people attended the funeral mass of an Oldcastle four-year-old, who tragically died in a road accident near Mullingar.
On Friday December 4, farmer Peter Hennessy from Oldcastle, was travelling with his two sons – four-year-old Peter and two-year-old Paul.
Peter was travelling in a jeep, which was towing a trailer containing cattle, when it jack-knifed across the N4 just outside Mullingar.
It is thought that Peter got out of the jeep and went to warn other traffic to stop them from hitting the stalled jeep, but sadly four-year-old Peter got out of the jeep without his father’s knowledge and was fatally hit by a van.
Priest Ray Kelly addressed the distraught Hennessys and their relatives and shocked parishioners at St Brigid’s Church.
“For Little Peter’s parents Anne, Peter, for his brother Paul, his grandparents Michael and Kitty and all of the rest of the family here today, I’m sure over the last few day’s there has been so little light in your lives as you come to terms with the tragic and untimely death of Little Peter,” he said. “It’s so hard to understand, so hard to cope with.
“How can most people understand that loosing a son, a brother, grandson and nephew like Peter is one of the most devastating things that can happen to you.
“How could they know that part of your heart has been amputated.
“When a parent dies part of our past goes to the grave. But when your four year old, full of life son dies part of your future goes to the grave as well. No word of comfort have ever been written or said which can really console parents, and family when a loving little boy like Peter is lost to death.
“I want you now in your minds eye to see little Peter’s face, he is with his brother Paul, because where Peter is Paul is, they are inseperable, they is sitting at the breakfast table. They are eating their porridge. Daddy has told him if he wants to be a good farmer he must eat all his porridge.
“Peter was such a generous and sensitive little boy, he was gentle, everything he had he shared, whether it was biscuits, sausages, toys, whatever, in your minds eye see him sharing with you now,” he said.
Local councillor Oliver Fox said that the Hennessys were very highly respected and were in the thoughts of locals.
“It was a huge funeral which is indicative of the community and of how they feel,” he said.
“I’d like to extend my sympathies to the parents of Peter, his brother and wider relatives it’s a terrible tragedy and a blow to the community,” he said