Meabh Quoirin's "universe is still filled with Nóra" six years after her death

The teenager disappeared on a family holiday to Malaysia in 2019 and her body was found more than a week later. An inquest ruled Nóra’s death to be by misadventure but a second inquest returned an open verdict.

Her family has long maintained that there’s no way Nóra, who was born with a brain condition that affects physical and mental development, would have wandered off on her own.

Now, six years on, Meabh has spoken of how the family is keeping Nóra’s memory alive and that they still feel as if she’s with them.

"We should have been growing old with Nóra beside us. She would have always been with her dad and I," Meabh told the Irish Times.

"Her sister’s about to go off to university, other kids are supposed to go off, but Nóra was not meant to leave, Nóra was meant to be by our sides. She should be here."

Telling how Nóra, who was half French on her dad’s side, loved spending time in Ireland, Meabh recalled happy memories made in Donegal, which was "truly [Nóra’s] most favourite place in the world".

Nora Quorin.

 "She loved running into that sea, it didn’t matter how freezing it was… She used to love sitting up in The Rusty Nail [in Crossconnell near Clonmany] and having a Cidona and a packet of crisps and just taking in the pub," Meabh said.

Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that approaching milestones are particularly tough but the Quoirin family have marked what would have been Nóra’s 21st birthday in a particularly special way.

Over the past six years, Meabh has been collecting memories of Nóra, with the family ending up with a lovely list of sweet moments of things like how Nóra would put her Crocs on the wrong feet and eat her toast upside down.

The memories were, over time, transformed into poems and then into songs by Nóra’s grandfather, Sylvain. Two years ago they were performed in Venizy, France, and now they’ve been staged in Ireland with help from Nora’s godmother, Aisling Agnew, a professional flautist.

Meabh said it "couldn’t have been more special" to have this evening the night before Nora would have turned 21, as in the moments the poems are being recited if feel like Nóra is holding her hand.

While Meabh has "zero faith in Malaysia ever paying attention to Nóra’s case again", she’s determined to try and not "carry" any anger.

* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.