Funeral details announced for Tipperary man who tragically lost his life in house fire

Funeral details for Michael Looby, the man who tragically lost his life in a house fire in Boherlahan on August 6, have been announced.

Reposing at Devitt’s Funeral Home this Friday evening from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

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Requiem Mass will take place on Saturday in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Boherlahan at 12.00 noon and can be viewed here, followed by Burial in Ballinure Cemetery.

Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of a fatal fire at a domestic residence in Boherlahan on Wednesday morning, August 6, 2025.

Mr Looby, the sole occupant of the house, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Fire services extinguished the fire.

Enquiries are ongoing to establish the cause of the fire, with no foul play suspected at this time.

The man was later named locally as Michael Looby, a retired ESB worker.

Mr Looby had buried his brother the week prior in Dublin.

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Speaking on Mr Looby’s passing, Cllr Roger Kennedy said: “He was a native of Ballinree. He worked with the ESB for his long career. He was retired for the last number of years. My extended sympathies to his family and his extended family. He buried a brother last week. His brother died in Rathcoole, Co Dublin last week. He’s survived by six sisters.

“He was a quiet man. Very sociable. Very interested and involved in machinery, particularly vintage machinery, and very involved with Dualla Ploughing Society. He was a good community man, he used to come down most weekends from Dublin, but he’d be always down when there was anything on.”

Cllr Declan Burgess said that Michael’s loss came as a great shock to the community.

He said: “It’s a very tragic passing of a well-known local man, and it’s very sad indeed, you know, for his family here in Cashel, and indeed Boherlahan as well, and Dualla. Very sad for them all, given the tragedy. But I suppose as a local Councillor, I want to thank the residents in the Ballinree area for their work on the scene and getting the emergency services out there, I’d like to thank the fire brigade in Cashel and the team around, for the work that they did, it was a real tragedy, and certainly created a big shock in the locality once news broke, so my thoughts are with the Looby family at this time, it’s a very sad occasion when anyone dies, but especially when it’s such a sad passing like this.

“I’d have known Mick fairly well, I’d meet him fairly regularly when he used to come into Cashel, and indeed when I was out in Boherlahan. I’d know his family as well. You’d meet him often, you know? Mick was a big character, people knew him quite well, you know, he’d have been about quite often. That’s why it’s such a big shock, for people in the Boherlahan, Dualla, and Cashel areas.”