STUDENTS LOOK FOR COMFORT
Students look for comfort
By: Stephen Maguire
Students wandered aimlessly through the grounds of Scoil Naisiunta Iosagain on Monday afternoon last, clinging to each other for some crumb of comfort.
Some hugged each other, others rubbed each other's backs. Anything to sooth the pain, the heart wrenching pain.
Irish and Spanish children, lost in language but united in grief. Their new-found common language.
At times like this you wish you weren't a reporter but a shopkeeper, a plumber, a taxi-driver.
Anything that would allow you to escape the horrible task of asking questions and in some way making these victims relive their horror.
Preferring not to speak outside the nearby church grounds, where she had just emerged from a private Mass, school principal Sinead
McLaughlin took time out to speak with reporters in a room off the entrance to the school.
The previous 36 hours had been a nightmare.
A pillar of the community. she has probably yet to grieve fully herself, preferring to care for the other pupils and deal with the media.
"It is obviously very tough for everyone. We are coping as best we can but we will never, ever forget the lads and the Spanish students. How can we ever forget this horrible time?" she asked.
Asked if she thought the bomb may have been a mistake, Sinead said she did not accept such an explanation.
"I will never accept that. Anybody who dabbles with explosives knows the danger which they pose. I do not accept that this was a mistake because these people knew the danger and the risk to other people."
She revealed that the school will undoubtedly erect some kind of memorial to the youngsters killed in the awful tragedy.
"We don't know what it will be but we will never forget them. How could we?"
Town Clerk Paul Doyle found it hard to take in the enormity of the grief which had been visited on the small seaside town.
Ironically he revealed that a group of visitors from both France and Spain were due to meet with the local council next week to discuss future visits to the town.
Despite the fact that Buncrana had been mentioned in news bulletins and plastered across newspapers around the world he did not think the town would suffer negatively.
"I think people realise that Buncrana and its people were drawn into this horrific incident and that whoever was directly responsible for this, were not associated with the town.
"It is such a sad time for all concerned. The Spanish students have become such a major part of our lives here for the past ten years. Hopefully this incident will not deter them from continuing a fine tradition," he said.
Vice-principal of the school, Jimmy McBride, said he could not find words to describe the people who had carried out such an atrocity.
"I would love to be able to find the words about how we all feel but unfortunately I don't think anybody can. Words fail us at this time. It is such a sad time.
"I knew two of the young lads and I am just so sad for them and their families. Who would have thought on Saturday morning that this is what we would be facing now? It is just all so hard to take in," he said.
By: Stephen Maguire
Students wandered aimlessly through the grounds of Scoil Naisiunta Iosagain on Monday afternoon last, clinging to each other for some crumb of comfort.
Some hugged each other, others rubbed each other's backs. Anything to sooth the pain, the heart wrenching pain.
Irish and Spanish children, lost in language but united in grief. Their new-found common language.
At times like this you wish you weren't a reporter but a shopkeeper, a plumber, a taxi-driver.
Anything that would allow you to escape the horrible task of asking questions and in some way making these victims relive their horror.
Preferring not to speak outside the nearby church grounds, where she had just emerged from a private Mass, school principal Sinead
McLaughlin took time out to speak with reporters in a room off the entrance to the school.
The previous 36 hours had been a nightmare.
A pillar of the community. she has probably yet to grieve fully herself, preferring to care for the other pupils and deal with the media.
"It is obviously very tough for everyone. We are coping as best we can but we will never, ever forget the lads and the Spanish students. How can we ever forget this horrible time?" she asked.
Asked if she thought the bomb may have been a mistake, Sinead said she did not accept such an explanation.
"I will never accept that. Anybody who dabbles with explosives knows the danger which they pose. I do not accept that this was a mistake because these people knew the danger and the risk to other people."
She revealed that the school will undoubtedly erect some kind of memorial to the youngsters killed in the awful tragedy.
"We don't know what it will be but we will never forget them. How could we?"
Town Clerk Paul Doyle found it hard to take in the enormity of the grief which had been visited on the small seaside town.
Ironically he revealed that a group of visitors from both France and Spain were due to meet with the local council next week to discuss future visits to the town.
Despite the fact that Buncrana had been mentioned in news bulletins and plastered across newspapers around the world he did not think the town would suffer negatively.
"I think people realise that Buncrana and its people were drawn into this horrific incident and that whoever was directly responsible for this, were not associated with the town.
"It is such a sad time for all concerned. The Spanish students have become such a major part of our lives here for the past ten years. Hopefully this incident will not deter them from continuing a fine tradition," he said.
Vice-principal of the school, Jimmy McBride, said he could not find words to describe the people who had carried out such an atrocity.
"I would love to be able to find the words about how we all feel but unfortunately I don't think anybody can. Words fail us at this time. It is such a sad time.
"I knew two of the young lads and I am just so sad for them and their families. Who would have thought on Saturday morning that this is what we would be facing now? It is just all so hard to take in," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: DONEGAL PEOPLE'S PRESS
Ref: DP/026
Published Date: 19-Aug-98
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