The Meath bus crash provided a sombre backdrop to yesterday's Dáil proceedings.
There was a palpable air of grief as the House expressed sympathy with the families of the bereaved and injured.
"This is a day of tragedy and depression," said Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny. To lose a child, he added, must be the most unbearable thing in any parent's life.
The Taoiseach led the tributes, and Minister of State for Education Sile de Valera later answered a series of special notice questions on the crash. Ms de Valera and Minister for Education Mary Hanafin wore black.
Mr Ahern painted a picture of an ordinary Monday morning for the girls. "Yesterday, five young girls left their parents and their homes to go to school," he said. "It was probably a normal day like any other. But it was not to be, for long."
He read the names of the dead into the record of the House: Sinead Ledwidge, Aimee McCabe, Deirdre Scanlon, Clare McClusky and Lisa Callan.
He spoke of how a "terrible and sudden tragedy" had been visited upon the families of the bereaved. "Our thoughts, too, are with the injured who are not only physically but also emotionally hurt by this awful event," he added.
Labour's Pat Rabbitte referred to the scale of the tragedy to visit one small area of the country, while Trevor Sargent of the Green Party spoke of "grieving heartbreak".
Sinn Fein's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said that for the present, TDs could do no more than express sympathy.
Socialist Joe Higgins spoke of a family link in the case of one of the dead with his home parish of Lispole, Co Kerry.
Ms de Valera said that she had to be circumspect in making any premature judgment before the results of the various investigations into the crash emerged.
The scale of the tragedy was further underlined when she revealed that 12 psychologists from the Department's national educational psychological had attended at the four schools earlier in the day. Two extra counsellors would link in as a floating resource, she added.
Although the possible cause of the crash was probed, the overwhelming emotion was sadness at the event and sympathy for the bereaved and injured.
"The whole country has been shocked by this event which has cut short the lives of five young girls who had everything to live for and who were journeying from their close-knit school communities to their homes and families," said Ms de Valera. "It is a heart-rending tragedy which has left no one unmoved."