The mother of tragic schoolgirls Erin and Shannon Gallagher has launched a scathing attack on their father after he started a fundraising venture in their honour.
Tony Traynor plans to walk across the West Highland Way in his native Scotland in honour of the tragic girls who took their own lives recently.
Mr Traynor, 37, who hadn’t seen his girls since Erin was 2 and Shannon was 4, also wants to have a community centre named after them.
But the girls’ mum Lorraine Gallagher told Donegal Daily she wanted nothing to do with her former partner and she knows neither would her girls.
“We started a new life a long time ago and he has some cheek trying to do this now.
“He wasn’t there for the girls when they needed him and now he announces that he is doing walks for them and trying to name a community centre after them.
“What they needed was a responsible father when they were little girls growing up and he admits that he was never that.
“He admitted that he had a drug and drink problem and that’s what made me leave him.
The late Erin and Shannon Gallagher
“He would be better off keeping quiet and not trying to make even more trouble and insult the memories of Erin and Shannon.
“It’s a bit late for him trying to become a role model for his two little girls when they are cold in the ground,” said Lorraine.
Lorraine’s world fell apart last October when Erin took her life at the family’s home in Ballybofey.
The 13 year old had complained she was being bullied, both physically and on-line, just weeks before her death.
Six weeks later her, her older sister Shannon, 15, also took her own life.
Lorraine said she is trying her best to cope for the sake of her other son Sean James, 4.
“I’m taking it one day at a time and trying to lead as normal a life as I can for Sean James.
“He was everything to the girls and I am trying to be as best a mum as I can for him.
“That’s what the girls would have wanted. They adored him,” she said.
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