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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The woman believed to have been Ireland's oldest person has died at the incredible age of 108.
Sarah Coyle, originally from Knockatomcoyle, Co Wicklow, had been living with her daughter Marian Galligan in Castleknock in Dublin when she passed away peacefully on Monday, surrounded by her loving family.
Mrs Coyle, née Byrne, was born on July 24, 1916, the year of the Easter Rising and has lived through two pandemics and the Irish Civil War.
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Mrs Coyle came from a family of 10 who grew up in Coolkenno in Co Wicklow before moving to Dublin at the age of 17. Two of her siblings also lived past the age of 100 with her brother Andy passing before her and her sister Lily (103) who lives in Birmingham .
She was a carer for an elderly woman in Foxrock before she met her husband Tom Coyle whom she married in 1950. Her husband Tom died in 1986. They had two children, Patrick and Marian, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Mrs Coyle's grandson Thomas Galligan has told of how his beloved great-grandmother lived through extraordinary times in Ireland and that she remembers the distinct uniforms of the Black and Tans who operated in Ireland during the War of Independence from 1919 to 1921.
In an interview with the Irish times earlier this year, Mrs Coyle's daughter said her mother remembers a time when the Black and Tans came to her house and took her grandfather James outside with the intention of shooting him but luckily they never did.
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Mrs Coyle tragically lost her sight in 1957, aged just 40, following a trauma to the head. Her grandson Thomas said despite her blindness, his grandmother retained her love for gardening and developed a great love for radio and listening to Gay Byrne and Marian Finucane.
Mrs Coyle had a total of eight presidential medals, which she received each year after turning 100. She was just 10 days from celebrating her 109th birthday.
Funeral arrangements for Mrs Coyle have been posted on RIP.ie and a condolence book has also been opened for anyone to leave a heartfelt message.
Mrs Coyle will repose at her daughter’s residence on Thursday, July 17, from 5pm to 7pm with removal to St. Brigid’s Church, Blanchardstown on Friday morning, July 18, arriving for Requiem Mass at 10am followed by burial in Glasnevin Cemetery.
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