Jacqui Hurley has spoken candidly about the devastating loss of her younger brother Seán, admitting that accepting his death is something her family still struggles with more than a decade on.
The RTÉ presenter lost Seán in a tragic road traffic accident in Cork in 2011. He was just 25 years old.
Appearing on the Parting Words podcast with Muireann O’Connell, Jacqui reflected on the moment the reality of his passing truly hit home.
“I think the most challenging part around it is when you get home eventually and realise that he’s gone and he’s not coming back,” she shared.
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“You walk through the door, and your parents are sitting there, and it’s not just your life that’s changed, but you realise that theirs has too.”
Seán was the youngest in the family, something Jacqui says made the loss even harder to comprehend.
“You never expect the youngest person in the house to go first,” she said.
“And I think that’s the hardest thing to accept, even now, for us to accept. We have a life, and we’ve done amazing things in his legacy since then, which I’m so eternally proud of. But we never should’ve had to do that.”
Jacqui, who was presenting a news bulletin on RTÉ One when she learned of her brother’s death, has previously spoken about the surreal experience of others knowing before she did. It’s a moment that has stayed with her ever since.
Opening up further on the podcast, she admitted there is a deep sadness that Seán never got to meet her children.
“I would love nothing more than my children to see him and grow up having Uncle Seán in their lives as the absolute craic merchant that he was,” she said. “And there’s a huge sense of sadness that comes with that.”
However, she explained that while grief is ever-present, her family has made a conscious decision not to let tragedy define them.
