Child care worker who risked her life to stop knife-wielding attacker stabbing children to death in Dublin is named – as her proud brother hails her a ‘hero’

A childcare worker who risked her own life to protect children from a knife-wielding attacker has been described as a ‘hero’ by family and friends.

Leanne Flynn continues to recover in a Dublin hospital this weekend from serious neck injuries she suffered after bravely intervening to protect a group of five and six-year-olds who were attacked in Dublin city on Thursday.

A five-year-old girl who underwent emergency surgery after being stabbed in the incident remained in a critical condition at Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin last night. The other young victims, a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, have both been released from Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

The children’s brave carer, Leanne, was described in a serious but stable condition at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Father Paul Churchill of St Joseph’s parish in Phibsboro on Dublin’s north side, who presided over Leanne’s mother’s funeral last month, last night described her as a ‘good soul’.

He told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s sad to hear it was Leanne. I worked with her to celebrate her mother’s funeral and she came across as a very decent lady, a good soul.

‘I was thinking about whether I should commit myself to protecting children, to do something for them.

“You would hope that you would intervene and try to protect people. I would say that most people would instinctively try to protect children.

“I think this has made all of us think about a new dimension of protecting children in a way that we once thought we would have to think about.

“We prayed for Leanne and the children today and will add additional prayers for her. Someone also prayed for the man involved in the altercation, thinking he might need help too.”

Leanne’s brother Jonathan called his sister a hero this weekend.

In a post on a GoFundMe page – set up to raise money to thank those who intervened and prevented children from being fatally injured in the unprovoked attack outside an after-school center in Dublin’s north inner city last Thursday – Leanne’s brother Jonathan wrote: ‘Leanne hasn’t been able to share her story with everyone yet so I won’t go into details here, but she is a hero and I am so proud of my sister.

‘Thank you to everyone who donated and I hope everyone involved makes a full recovery.’

Officials from the boxing club where Leanne’s son Josh boxes, and where her partner Anthony Geraghty is a coach, also paid tribute.

In a post on social media, Cabra Boxing Club member Damien Flood wrote: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with our club coach Anto and our boxer Josh Geraghty, whose partner [and mother] was involved and saved the lives of countless children.

‘We wish her a speedy recovery.’

Dublin North Independent Councilor Nial Ring said yesterday that Dublin City Council is prepared to pay for the installation of sensory rooms at Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square East, the scene of Thursday’s horrific attack.

Cllr Ring added: “No one who knows Leanne is surprised she got involved. She certainly went above and beyond the call of duty and the parents are so grateful for what she did.

“Her instinct was to take care of the children.”

An eyewitness describes how Leanne confronted the knife-wielding attacker as she took a group of five- and six-year-olds from their classrooms to an after-school care facility: ‘Leanne was incredibly brave. She threw herself over the children to protect them and took the full brunt of it.’

Well-wishers left flower bouquets at the school in Dublin yesterday.

One message read: ‘Thinking of all the children at Choláiste Mhuire School and especially those who couldn’t go home, and also of Leanne. I hope you recover from this.”

Dublin City Councilor Cieran Perry said: ‘Leanne is a local and they are all absolute heroes for preventing this incident from getting much worse.’