A “shining light of joy for anyone who knew her.”
Eve McCarthy was a final year physiology student in UCD, who died in a tragic accident while rock-climbing in Spain on January 10, 2025, aged 21 years old.

The accident occurred in the climbing area El Chorro, near Malaga, where McCarthy and a male friend suffered a fall when they lost their balance after taking a wrong route. McCarthy’s friend managed to survive by grabbing onto an out-jutting rock.
McCarthy was a former student of Loreto Abbey Dalkey, and worked at the Kings Inn in Dalkey where she is warmly remembered.
During her time in UCD, McCarthy was a member of the Basketball, Tennis, and Mountaineering Clubs, and was a committee member and treasurer of the Biology Society for the past two years. Biosoc invited members and non-members alike to the O’Neill Lounge on January 23rd to gather and remember Eve, describing her as a “shining light of joy for anyone who knew her.”
They said, “Eve was the perfect person in our eyes; her adventurous spirit, with her humour, smarts and kindness, it was hard not to feel present when you were with her.”
The University Observer wishes to extend our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Eve McCarthy.