{"id":1058594,"date":"2026-06-30T00:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T00:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058594\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T00:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T00:58:19","slug":"a-kind-caring-beautiful-soul-tributes-paid-to-three-irish-people-killed-in-spain-car-crash-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058594\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A kind, caring, beautiful soul:\u2019 Tributes paid to three Irish people killed in Spain car crash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A minute\u2019s silence for three people killed, and a fourth seriously injured in a crash in the south of Spain<\/a>, was held at a Westmeath County Council meeting on Monday night. <\/p>\n

Those who died<\/a>, all from Mullingar, had been named locally as Mark McCullagh, his partner, Michaela Newcombe and Amy McCullagh.<\/p>\n

Mark McCullagh\u2019s brother, Ian, who was Amy McCullagh\u2019s husband, was taken to hospital following the crash, which happened near the city of Malaga in the early hours of Sunday.<\/p>\n

Local Sinn F\u00e9in Cllr Julie McCourt said there had been \u201csolidarity in the sadness\u201d of the council members as they paused before their scheduled meeting in the evening to think of those who died, their family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s devastating for everyone <\/a>… but in particular for those close to them, their families, close friends, the people they hung out with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a daughter away myself. And to get a call like that would shatter my life and it must be especially difficult for the families when the tragedy is making such headlines here, and probably across Europe too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il Minister of State at the Department of Finance Robert Troy is a TD for the area. He said that of the three families affected, two were from Mullingar and a third from a small village not far from the town. \u201cI know one family particularly well … It\u2019s an horrendous call to have to receive,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Independent Cllr Michael Dollard said it would take \u201ca long time\u201d for the people of Mullingar to \u201cunderstand how three young lives can be taken away so quickly, especially people away on holiday\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Amy McCullagh was a healthcare assistant who worked at Mullingar hospital. <\/p>\n

Michaela Newcombe worked as a receptionist in a beauty salon in Mullingar town, which remained closed as tributes were paid online to her as a \u201ckind, caring, beautiful soul\u201d. <\/p>\n

In a succession of warm tributes posted on the business\u2019s social media page, customers described her as a woman with a \u201cheart of gold\u201d and with \u201ca kind word for everyone she would meet\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of those paying tribute said she was \u201cdevastated to hear about Michaela … She will be a huge loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr Norman Allred, a priest based in Mullingar, said it was \u201ca heartbreaking day\u201d for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parish is holding everybody close in prayer … and we\u2019re ready to help family members, help friends, help anyone who needs prayer and condolence at this time and through these next several days,\u201d he told RT\u00c9. – Additional reporting by PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A minute\u2019s silence for three people killed, and a fourth seriously injured in a crash in the south…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1058595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,270863,290635,104,290634],"class_list":["post-1058594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-mullingar","tag-robert-troy","tag-spain","tag-westmeath-county-council"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116836349069579362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}