Irene McBride

Photo of Irene

Looks like Christmas.

New £10,000 Reward

From the Irish News article:
 
The sister of a woman brutally murdered in Co Louth three and a half years ago has offered a £10,000 reward for information about the killing.
 
Mother-of-three Irene White (43) was stabbed to death in the kitchen of her Dundalk home on Wednesday April 6 2005.
She was last seen dropping her children off to Realt Na Mara primary school that morning.
 
But just a few hours later,at about 12.30pm, Mrs White’s 70-year-old mother, Maureen McBride, found her lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of her home at Ice House on Demesne Road.
 
Gardai found that a man in his thirties was seen running from Mrs White’s home around 10.15am that day.  However, no-one has ever been convicted of her murder.
 
Her sister Anne Delcassian said she can still remember receiving the phone call to say Irene had been killed.
 
"I thought it was my mother but then they said to me ‘It’s Irene’," she said.
 
"It was the worst. I loved my sister dearly."
 
Mrs Delcassian is offering her own money on top of 10,000 Euro already offered by
 
Crimestoppers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the murder.
 
Irene’s murder was so savage, she said.
 
Her throat was slit and she was stabbed 30 times in her upper body.
 
Her eyes were open when my mother found her.
 
Six months later, in October 2005, Mrs McBride died on what would have been Irene’s 44th birthday.
 
I think Irene was basically targeted to be killed, Mrs Delcassian said.
 
They knew when she was coming back from school.
 
Mrs Delcassian, whose grandmother Ellen Small came from the Falls Road in Belfast, said her family had been shocked by Irene’s death.

 

It wasn’t just me. A lot of Irene’s friends in Dundalk and Newry were devastated, she said.

She was my only sister. It’s taken me three-and-a-half years to accept that she and my mother are not coming back.

 

I cannot let her or my mother down. I think anyone would be the same. Mrs Delcassian, who has two daughters of her own, lives in Cheshire, England, but returns to Ireland frequently to get updates on the case.

 

She has spent the last three and a half years campaigning on behalf of her sister and other women who have been murdered in Ireland, these include Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was savagely killed at her home in west Cork in 1996.

 

She said she was convinced some people know who was involved in her sister’s killing.

 

I know there are people out there who have this information, she said.

 

Maybe they are in fear of their lives but there may just be someone who knows something and has a conscience.

 

Vigil 2007

Vigil 2007 Photographs added.

Photos 3rd April 2007

New Album created, some really good photos there.

Growing up...

This website is dedicated to my sister Irene Mc Bride, because that is how I remember Irene as a strong person.  Someone who knew exactly what she wanted, a woman who knew what direction her life was going. Irene came originally from Omeath, a small village in County Louth close to the border with Newry.

Irene came into this world and joined a happy family, her brother Michael the oldest, and her sister Anne.  There was only a year and a few months between Irene and Anne and they were extremely close. Unfortunately Michael died in their mother's arms after a very tragic car accident. Irene's parents were devastated and never really recovered from the shock.

Irene's father Matty Mc Bride died in 1973 which left Maureen, Anne and Irene alone and vulnerable, they became a tight knit unit, and went everywhere together. The girls grew up and any socialising took place
together. They had some craic, plenty of laughs, both girls were working and life was fun.

However there comes a time in your life when you meet that special someone, the person you want to be with, who draws you to them like a magnet. It happened to Anne, firstly as usual out having a good time at nineteen years of age, and suddenly there he is, standing on a chair hair long and blond, he certainly got Anne's attention. On the 25th March 1982 Anne married him and they are still together with two beautiful daughters following their own paths in life now.

Irene followed on with a very successful career, bought her own beautiful home in Dundalk, and was joined by her own gorgeous daughter, Jennifer Mc Bride in February 1988. Irene was making great headway on her own, there were regular visits between Irene and Anne, either to England or Anne came wiith her family to Dundalk, and Mo their mother loved all of her family to be around her. Mo lived in the family home in Omeath and beds would be made and everyone would join in the loving family bond that was between us all.

Her laugh

I think what most of Irene's friends remember about her, is the way she would laugh. The sound of her voice when something amused her, she simply encaptured an audience. That humour shared by Irene's family is simply due to a great sense of humour and a great comprehension of "the craic".

New Photos

New photos posted