“BRILLIANT, BOISTEROUS, passionate, wise, mischievous, irreverent, fearless and enormous fun.” Clare Dixon of Cafod, who knew her for 40 years, was one of the many friends and colleagues to pay tribute to aid worker Sally O’Neill, whose death in a car accident last Sunday night sparked an outpouring of grief and love.

Originally from Dungannon in Co. Tyrone, Sally joined the Irish Church’s overseas aid agency, Trócaire, in 1978. She worked primarily on projects in Latin America but was also involved in providing famine relief in Ethiopia in the mid 1980s. Following her retirement in April 2015 after 37 years of service, Sally worked as a volunteer with prisoners and migrants in Honduras, where she lived.

“Sally was the heartbeat of Trócaire for almost 40 years,” the agency’s director, Caoimhe de Barra, said. “Although we still cannot believe she is gone, we know that she left an incredible footprint on the world.”