Three young Buncrana boys killed in the Omagh bombing are to be buried side by side today. The funeral Mass for Oran Doherty (8), Shaun McLaughlin (12) and James Barker (12) will take place in St Mary's Church, Cockhill, at 11 a.m.
The President, Mrs McAleese, is to attend. Shaun McLaughlin was among a group of schoolchildren who visited the President at Aras an Uachtarain in June. The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, is also expected to attend.
Yesterday evening the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, visited the McLaughlin, Barker and Doherty families. He told reporters: "There is nothing definite about who was involved in this, but we are following everything we can on the group we believe is involved." He said it was not always possible to prevent attacks because the group, which calls itself the `Real IRA', were now using new people.
"We have intensified surveillance over the past few days, but it's always difficult to watch everybody because it's often somebody you don't know".
The Taoiseach was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, and the Donegal TD, Ms Cecilia Keaveney.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, visited the families with the Taoiseach. Leaving the home of Oran Doherty, Mr Hume, like many others, was in tears. "When you look at the faces of those young children and see the terrible suffering inflicted on their families, you wonder what sort of people are these that can leave those children in their coffins the way they are," he said.
Mr Ahern first called to the Barker home. He said it was "heart-rending" but was glad the family, who moved to Ireland a year ago, were going to stay. Mr Ahern said visiting the families had strengthened his commitment to the peace process. "It gives you a lot of heart, through all this horrendous tragedy, when someone says, `Don't give up, keep going'."
Books of condolences were opened yesterday at Scoil Iosagain from where the language course for Spanish students is run. Framed pictures of the three local boys and the two Spanish killed stood beside a vase of five white lilies and a lighted candle. Parents brought young children, some barely able to write their names, to sign the book. Mr Ahern also met 20 Spanish students who are staying on in Buncrana to finish the language course.
There were harrowing scenes in the town in the early hours of yesterday when the bodies of the three boys were brought home. They had left on Saturday morning to go on a day trip to Omagh with a group of Spanish students.
Hundreds of townspeople stood along Buncrana's main street as the cortege of three coffins reached the town after 12.30 a.m. Young people held lighted candles. Men and women wept openly, and the sound of uncontrolled sobbing and wailing filled the air at the first sight of the small coffins. The families of the boys, visibly distraught, followed in cars.
The hearse carrying the body of James Barker separated from the main cortege outside the town to go to the boy's home in Porthaw. His family moved to Ireland from England less than a year ago to live what they hoped would be "a quieter life".
About 3,000 people walked in a silent candle-lit vigil through Buncrana last night before taking part in an ecumenical prayer-service for peace.
The local curate, Father Shane Bradley, said he wished the bombers could have looked inside the coffins of the three local boys killed in the bombing. He prayed that the Omagh bombing would be the final tragedy in Irish history and for peace throughout the whole 32 counties.