Amid scenes of intense grief, the funerals took place of the road traffic accident victims who lost their lives in Cork over the weekend.
In Kinsale, home of four of the victims, hundreds of young people were present to pay their last respects at separate ceremonies for the three 15-year-old boys who died in one car. The driver, a 23-year-old was also a native of the town.
Third year students from Kinsale Community College, classmates of the twins, Cian and Gavin O'Sullivan, of Dunderrow, Kinsale, formed a guard of honour at the Carmelite Friary, where the first of three Requiem Masses were held. The Mass was followed by the funeral service for their friend, Conor Coleman (15), also from Dunderrow, and for Mr Paul O'Donovan, of Ballinacurra, Kinsale, a friend of the three boys and the driver of the car in which they lost their lives.
The chief celebrant at the Mass for the O'Sullivan twins, Father Myles McSweeney, said the mood in the parish was one of devastation over the past few days.
At the Mass for Conor Coleman, the chief celebrant was Father Gerry Hyde who spoke of the sympathy felt in the parish for the bereaved family. At the third funeral Mass in Kinsale, Father Stan Hession said there had been "a fantastic" outpouring of caring and sympathy from the hundreds of young people in the area.
The funerals also took place yesterday of Mr Denis McCarthy (70) and his wife, Nuala (63) who were killed when their car was involved in the head-on collision