A village comes to terms with its loss

THERE are fresh footprints on the track through Craig Wood shrines have been erected to the memories of Fathers Joe Walsh, Imelda and Liam Riney.

New toys and crystals have been placed where the toddlers and mother were found entwined in death. The sound of wind, chimes carries through the dank, eerie forest.

Just 150 yards away, a poem lies in a plastic holder near the cross to mark where Father Walsh knelt before his execution.

Thank you Joe for the years we shared,

The love you gave,

The way you cared.

Time goes by but memories stay,

As near and dear as yesterday.

The message is signed "I miss you so much, M xxxx.

All has changed in the quiet east Clare village of Mountshannon since Brendan O'Donnell rolled into town in a stolen car two years ago, instilling terror into the local community before brutally murdering a young priest, a mother and her child.

For the families and close friends of Brendan O'Donnell's victims, time may never really heal the wounds brought about by the senseless slaughter of three young people. But now that the trial is finally over and O'Donnell is behind bars, the people of Mountshannon and the neighbouring parish of Whitegate are learning to come to terms with the awful events of last year's spring.

When Winnie Shanahan's young son, Christopher, saw the hearse bringing Imelda and Liam Riney through the village he asked her if it could happen to their family. "I told him the angels were looking after us, and he asked `Why weren't they looking after Imelda and Liam?' I had no answers for what happened.

"In the weeks and months after the murders, waking up in the morning knowing that your child was all right was an amazing feeling, but there was a sense of guilt, too, because you were relieved that it happened to someone else and not to you," explained Winnie, a local hotel owner and mother of two.

"There is no forgiveness for him for killing the child, but we have to learn to forgive him if we are to heal. The pain will always be there, but we have to pick up the pieces," she says.

In the hotel at the top of the town, the "blow ins" sit around a television watching Ajax play the Greek side Panathinaikos at soccer. In the Bridge bar, at the other end of town, locals cheer Liverpool to victory over Newcastle. The two communities were briefly united in grief two years ago when Brendan O'Donnell took the life of the young artist and her child, but things are back to normal now - they simply don't mix.

It was the unspoiled nature and the safe environment of east Clare that attracted Imelda Riney to the area four years ago. The beauty of Lough Derg continues to attract more and more outsiders - the murders in Whitegate have not deterred them. Now that O'Donnell is behind bars, Mountshannon can again take its place on the map of peaceful havens.

"Where we come from murder is part of life," says Hans Jurgen Meyer, a German salesman who has lived in Mountshannon for the last 10 years. "So while the murders shocked us, we were a bit used to violence. The killing of women and children happens in Germany and it did not change our opinion of Mountshannon."

The scenery rather than the people attracted Hans to the village, and it is the scenery which keeps him in east Clare. "There is no tolerance here. They don't accept us."

Klaus Jascheke agrees. He scoffs at the idea of the Ireland of the welcomes. "We have a saying in Germany `What the farmer don't know, he don't eat.' The people here will look through you, look around you, but they won't talk to you."

At the time of the murders that changed. We were united, searching together, working together to find Imelda and Liam. It was really impressive. But it didn't last long. A couple of weeks later it was back to normal."

That unity was partially brought about by anger in both communities with the Garda at whom the finger of blame is still being pointed for any delay in launching a full scale investigation when the Rineys were first reported missing.

Relations between gardai based in Scariff and the people of Whitegate and Mountshannon had soured long before O'Donnell arrived back to terrorise the communities of east Clare.

It the weeks leading to the murders it was felt that complaints against O'Donnell were not given the priority they deserved, while the patrolling gardai had an over zealous approach to enforcing licensing laws and minor traffic offences.

Relations between locals and gardai have improved considerably. Pub raids are rare, the relaxed atmosphere loved by locals and tourists alike is back. Questions about the manner in which gardai handled the case have still to be answered, but for the moment locals are happy that O'Donnell is behind bars.

"People were happy with the verdict. It was feared that he would be found insane and let out again after a couple of years, but now he is unlikely to be a danger to anyone," a Fine Gael councillor Paddy Bugler, explained.

The councillor feels sorry for O'Donnell and particularly for his father who, he believes, was wronged in court. "Brendan O'Donnell could not have been born bad. He comes from a peaceful, hardworking, respectable family. I could not possibly believe that his father Michael Pat was guilty of the brutal behaviour he, was accused of. It was completely exaggerated."

Most in Mountshannon share his view and are quick to come to the council worker's defence. The Co Clare man held down two jobs to support his family, they say. When his wife felt isolated in their home in Craig House, he sold his farm and home and moved to Whitegate in the hope that she would be happier there.

He was never a heavy drinker, never lifted a hand in anger to anyone in the area and no one ever saw a mark on the young O'Donnell children that would suggest physical abuse.

According to friends, Michael Pat's eldest son, David, says his father did everything in his power to help Brendan, but he just broke his heart.

Michael Pat and all those who helped Brendan O'Donnell over the years are still coming to terms with what has happened. "This is a happy, resilient community," Paddy Bugler insists. "So many people have been completely traumatised by what happened, but it's behind us now. The trial is over and we are anxious to get on with our lives."