Birchwood. Waterford. October 13th, 2026...

The sky was clear over Birchwood, a residential estate that most of the country had never heard of until the morning of Tuesday, October 13th.

Stunningly blue and free of cloud, a morning whose unseasonal beauty should have happily preoccupied us was unlike any other that comes to mind when telling the story of the place that Waterfordians call home.

As reporters continued to arrive at the scene of the most shocking arson attack in the city’s recent or distant history, a hearse, flanked by Garda vehicles, wheeled slowly towards University Hospital Waterford (UHW).

Those on nearby footpaths stopped in their tracks in respect for the deceased. Most who stood there knew even then that this wasn’t the sole loss of life on that horrendous morning.  

An extensive area around the fire-damaged property was swiftly cordoned off by Gardaí. Two units of the Waterford Fire Service left the scene shortly after 10am, while at least four marked Garda vehicles remained on site.

Whatever conversation was being shared by Gardaí, neighbours, elected representatives and journalists was noticeably muted. The cordon’s thick white tape bobbed in the heavy morning wind and, along with a solitary barking dog, was responsible for the only discernible noise within environs of the crime scene.

Numbed residents stood in small huddles at doorsteps and avenue corners, some still in their nightwear. Others were dressed, clasping mugs of tea, coffee and each other. All were surely asking the same question: why? 

The earliest news bulletins regarding the horrific events of that morning noted that there had been multiple deaths at the English homestead. It was difficult not to fear the worst once that news had broken. Somehow, the reality that neighbours and first responders witnessed was beyond the darkest scenario that anyone could contemplate.

What unfolded as a result of the attack on Number 7, Birch Avenue remains beyond comprehension.

The killings of Philip and Kim English, along with two of their sons, Callum (12) and Jayden (9) are as inexplicable as they are devastating.

“I think it was a watershed event,” said Justice Minister Jim O’Callagham. “A family of six people attacked, attempts made to kill the whole family, four of them murdered, two in a critical condition. So it’s a very significant event.” 

Whether their murders will lead to the establishment of a new agency within An Garda Síochána along a similar vein to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) created following the assassination of Veronica Guerin remains to be seen.

Doing nothing is not an option. Indeed, it’s worth noting it wasn’t an option prior to October 13th given the intimidation that families elsewhere in Waterford and across the country have been subjected to in recent years.

Despite all-time record Garda numbers being declared by Government just three days after the Birchwood murders, the civic fabric of this country feels worryingly frayed and shredded.

“People who are this weekend taking cocaine need to recognise that they are funding organised crime,” said Minister O’Callaghan.

“People who are purchasing drugs, who are using cocaine, they are funding and fuelling this violence against ordinary members of the community.”

He’s right. Cocaine use in this country is rampant, both in urban and rural areas.

From the young professional in the cosy office job, to the clueless, all-too impressionable youngster and all the way ‘up’ to the middle aged dinner-partygoer earning six figures: your weekend kick is killing people. There’s blood on many a hand which is unlikely to be ever cuffed inside a courtroom dock.   

In the midst of the horror, the very worst of times brought out the best in many. Take Amy McGuire, who manages the nearby Butler Community Centre, as a prime example of that.

Thrust into a spotlight that she would never have willingly sought, Amy, along with her colleagues and the St John’s Park community, showed what they were made of last week. They demonstrated the best of Waterford.  

“We have been inundated with donations of food and supplies, and we have a team of counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists who have all come together and are here to offer grief counselling to anybody who needs it,” Amy told RTE’s Marc O’Driscoll.

“I'm sure it will be used a lot more than it is being used now because everybody is still digesting what has just happened…

“This will go on for many, many weeks and months, and God only knows because none of us, none of even the taskforce who are involved here have faced something like this [before].

“But we will be there, and we will have this safe space open to anybody who needs it for as long as it is needed.” 

Addressing the Metropolitan Area’s October meeting, Mayor Lola O’Sullivan (FG) rightly stated: “The community of Waterford is really hurting for everybody involved, and we are extremely grateful to our emergency services, the ambulance crew, the fire service, the Gardaí, and the staff at University Hospital Waterford who had to deal with it.

“We are also thinking at this time about those two children who are in Crumlin, who are fighting for their lives - and we're also thinking about the community at large who had to face the unthinkable circumstances that unfolded.”

Sunday afternoon. October 18th. Flowers, teddy bears and two Liverpool FC scarves adorn the fence of the English home.

Behind the tributes, the perimeter of Number 7 Birch Avenue is framed by five-foot high railings.

Behind the railings, the front door and three front windows of the two-storey semi-detached house are blocked off by sheets of chipboard.

The drainpipe above the front door is broken and buckled into two melted pieces. The plaster around the front door is a mix of black and grubby grey while the exterior first floor wall and fascia is now charcoaled.

What was a home, bustling with the to-ing and fro-ing of family life until the early hours of October 13th, is now a mass murder scene, a place where lives were cheaply snuffed out.

“Each one of us knows that what happened in Birch Avenue...should never, ever have happened,” said Parish Priest Gerry Chestnutt.

“An innocent family, preparing for a new day, should have done what they did every day:  parents preparing their children for school; an innocent family taken from our midst in a most horrific and violent way.”

Despite the ongoing Garda investigation and the legal proceedings already in train, no outcome of any kind can undo the devastation that was inflicted hours before most of us woke up on Tuesday, October 13th.

That particular date shall now forever be connected with a morning of unprecedented, appalling darkness in Waterford.