Bansha was shocked yesterday by unconfirmed reports that two young men from the small Tipperary town had been murdered in the Netherlands.
Television crews arrived at 3 p.m. and broadcast bulletins from a small car-park outside O'Heney's bar and lounge.
Local people reacted with disbelief. One man commented that he had known the two men from an early age and they had always been well behaved.
The men's families gave no response to questions but seemed distressed. Local gardai refused to make any comment and referred inquiries to the Garda press office.
In Cloughleagh near Ennis, Co Limerick, where one of the men grew up, local people were also in shock. Gardai took a photograph from the man's house there.
The man, aged about 25, came from a large family who have lived since the 1970s in a terraced house in Childers Road, north-west of the town of 20,000 people. They are popular in the area.
Neighbours spoke highly of the family. They lost their father, who worked for the Mid-Western Health Board, in recent years but continued to play an active part in the community and the local church.
One of them is travelling in Thailand and has yet to hear the news.
The son attended St Flannan's College in the town and was remembered by one past pupil as a person who largely kept to himself but who had a small number of close friends. He worked in various jobs in Holland, including cable-laying. One neighbour said he could not think of a more gentle person.
"He was definitely a gentle and kind person, not in any way troublesome, or in any way looking for trouble. The family are well respected. They are more or less an inspiration to the people of Cloughleagh."