The first funeral of Omagh bomb victims took place in a hill-top cemetery in south Tyrone yesterday morning, as up to 2,000 mourners packed the church and surrounding grounds.
Mr Michael Monaghan carried his three-year-old son in his arms as he walked behind the coffins of his wife, Avril, and baby daughter, Maura, while his surviving children, Aibheann (5) and Eilise (4), followed hand-in-hand with other family members.
Mrs Monaghan had been in Omagh to buy her eldest child's first school uniform when the bomb went off on Saturday afternoon. She was almost eight months pregnant with twins and died alongside her mother, Mrs Mary Grimes, who will be buried in the Tyrone village of Beragh this morning.
Held in the historic church of St MacCartan's - until the middle of the last century the cathedral of the Clogher diocese - the Monaghans' funeral Mass yesterday was assisted by the Bishop of Clogher, the Most Rev Joseph Duffy, who said the Omagh bomb had left us "bereaved as a country, North and South, Protestant and Catholic".
And in an impassioned plea to the general public to stand up against "the perverse insanity and deep-seated evil" that had once again struck at the heart of an innocent community, he urged a more active public role in support of peace: "Our whole future depends on this. Many of us have sinned by apathy and by lack of resolve. Let us use this occasion to stiffen our resolve."
The chief celebrant at the funeral was Father James Grimes, Avril Monaghan's uncle, who will also officiate at today's funeral of his sister-in-law. He told the mourners: "We must try to pray for forgiveness for those people who committed that most awful act in Omagh." He added: "Avril and Maura, you are today with the God we love and serve. Look down on us now and help us bear the loss." More mourners stood in the grounds and on the road outside than inside the historic church, which was the setting for William Carleton's story, Midnight Mass, and has a stained-glass window dedicated to the memory of John Hughes, the first archbishop of New York and a native of the parish.
Mrs Monaghan's coffin was carried to the grave by some of her 10 brothers, while an uncle from both sides of the family carried the small white coffin of baby Maura. Among the many wreaths at the graveside was a pink teddy-bear for the baby from her older sisters and brother. An accompanying note read: "To a beautiful and cheeky sister, you will be missed always." The sun shone on the picturesque churchyard as hundreds of mourners filed past the grave. Members of the Clogher Fire Brigade, who had helped in Omagh, were among the sympathisers.
The large numbers of television crews and photographers, many from overseas, were asked to remain outside the church grounds during the ceremony.
At the end of the service, the parish priest of Clogher, Father Lawrence Dawson, thanked the media "who carried this message gently and sensitively beyond these walls". He also thanked the RUC for its help in directing the large numbers of cars that choked the narrow country roads leading to the church.
Three Co Monaghan TDs - Fianna Fail's Dr Rory O'Hanlon, Fine Gael's Mr Seymour Crawford, and Sinn Fein's Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain - all attended the funeral, along with Senator Ann Leonard. Northern Ireland's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, was represented by two Ulster Unionist Assembly members, Mr Samuel Foster and Mr Raymond Ferguson.
In what they said was their "last public comment" on the tragedy, the Monaghan and Grimes families issued a joint statement yesterday, asking that they be allowed to come to terms with their loss in privacy. The statement described Avril as "a daughter, a sister and a friend", who had been "looking forward to bringing up her family in a peaceful society following the Good Friday Agreement and referendum".
It added: "Both families know that it would have been the wish of Mary and Avril that in some way some good would come from their untimely deaths. They would also wish to make it clear that no party or section of the community should seek to take advantage of this tragedy."
