Derry accident victim Brian ‘Sparky’ Harkin described as ‘irreplaceable’ by Fr. Paddy O’Kane in funeral homily

The popular barman was laid to rest a day after what would have been his 43rd birthday. He died in a tragic road accident at the Rock Road on Thursday.

Mr. Harkin’s partner Claire and her son Eythan, his parents John and Eileen, and his sisters Terrie, Edel, Jodie and Carly, were the chief mourners as his life was celebrated in the Ballymagroarty chapel.

Fr. Paddy O’Kane, in his homily, acknowledged that a ‘dark cloud’ had descended on Brian’s loved ones.

“That moment came to you, the family of Brian, early last Thursday morning when the news of his sudden and tragic death began, first of all as a stream, it soon became a tsunami throughout the city and beyond,” he said.

The death of the well-known bartender had stunned and saddened the very wide circle in which he was known, Fr. O’Kane said.

“When the news hit people they walked about in a daze, in disbelief, that this handsome, smiling, kind-hearted, gentle young man has been so suddenly plucked from our midst,” he said.

Mourners heard how Brian was born and baptised in Creggan but spent most of his life in Ballymagroarty apart from a stint in the Netherlands where his parents moved briefly in the late 1970s. He also spent some time in Australia when he was in his twenties.

Brian attended St. Eugene’s Primary School and St. Joseph’s Boys’ School. His first job was in McLaughlin’s Menswear but he was best known as a bar man and worked in the Strand Bar, Jackie Mullan’s, the Park and The Cosh, which he managed up until his death.

Brian was known for his involvement with Foyle Harps and his love of Liverpool F.C.

“Our hearts go out to you his family today,” said Fr. O’Kane yesterday. “When I called at Stephens Court on Thursday morning, John said to me, ‘My son, my son, my only son.’ And it breaks my heart to see him and Eileen in such anguish for it goes against the natural order for parents to have to bury a son or daughter.”

‘Sparky’ would have turned 43 on Sunday, Fr. O’Kane observed, had his life not been cut so tragically short.“Yesterday was his birthday and some of you who were at the wake house last night may have noticed a cake in Liverpool colours not far from his coffin,” he said.

Fr. O’Kane condoled with Brian’s heartbroken family and friends, many of whom had gathered outside the chapel for his Funeral Mass.

Recalling his early life growing up in Ballymagroarty he said: “I’m told that his mammy and daddy doted on him and that his mammy Eileen would be frequently heard singing to him ‘You are my sunshine’. For he, Brian, was always her golden boy,” he said.