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Jessica Gallagher was a talented fashion designer whose budding career was cut short when she lost her life in the Creeslough explosion.
t just 24 years old, she already had sought-after experience at the International Fashion Academy (IFA) in Paris, studying fashion design.
This course also allowed her to continue to study fashion in Shanghai, China, and she was due to start a new job in the industry in Belfast just days after the tragedy.
The night before the explosion, Jessica was celebrating this exciting new step in her career with her boyfriend, Conor McFadden.
They drank red wine and ate oysters in the Glen Bar and restaurant in Carrickart before returning to his apartment in Creeslough, where they remained the following day; Jessica was due to move to new accommodation on Saturday.
Conor was airlifted from the scene to St James Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
Designing and creating clothes was Jessica’s passion, and to symbolise this her first commission – a top that she had not yet finished – was brought up during the offertory at her funeral mass in St Michael’s Church yesterday.
Before her move to Belfast she lived with her parents Anthony and Bernadette in Creeslough, and previously worked at the Shandon Hotel in the neighbouring town of Dunfanaghy.
Although she lived abroad for several years, she was very proud of her home town of Creeslough and would chat with anyone she met.
Jessica was a talented artist, and while studying in Paris she paid tribute to her home county by creating a picture of Muckish Mountain in the moonlight.
She attended secondary school at Loreto College Letterkenny, which has paid tribute to her as “a beautiful past pupil”.
Jessica’s aunt, Dolores Gallagher, said she was one of the “brightest, happiest, most cheerful young women you could wish to meet” and she “lit up every room” she entered.
“As one of the neighbours said recently, she had no ‘off’ button. She was just happy and talkative. She was artistic and also extremely practical. She was everything you’d want in a young woman,” Dolores said.
Jessica was just about to embark on her professional career as a designer before the tragedy occurred, and her aunt said she was so proud that she’d recently had her very first commission.
“As her photograph shows, Jessica was the most beautiful young woman. She was very artistic, she qualified as a fashion designer and finally she was to start her job as a designer (on Monday),” Dolores said on Highland Radio.
“It was the day she was to start her new professional career in Belfast. She had just finished her first commission.
“She was so proud and she loved her community of Creeslough so much.
“She was a student in Paris and one of their assignments was to work on something from home – she produced a beautiful picture of Muckish Mountain in the moonlight, and we took her home yesterday in the moonlight.”
At her funeral mass, Jessica was described as a practical joker and an animal lover who was willing to do anything for her loved ones.
Fr John Joe Duffy said she was “a jewel of her family” and someone who could “light up a room with that infectious smile”. “I believe animals sense goodness in people, and they flocked to Jessica,” he said.
He spoke about her outgoing personality, describing her as having “huge confidence” in every facet of her life. “She could talk for Ireland, and people that knew her best said she had no ‘off’ switch.”
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