Ashling Murphy, primary teacher and promising musician who played fiddle at local events, was murdered on Thursday while out on a run by the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Vigils have been held all over the country, in every town and city including huge ones in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast, with traditional musicians celebrating Ashling's life, including her friends playing impromptu before the Dail. The Late Late Show, RTÉ's Friday night chat show, was a wake, with a circle of musicians playing and singing traditional songs and sean-nós, while her fiddle sat silent on an empty chair in the circle.
It was particularly poignant in a week in which Sinéad O'Connor and Dónal Lunny were mourning the death of their seventeen-year-old son.