The funeral has taken place of a young boy whose body was found on Greystones beach in Co Wicklow on Friday night.
Seven-year-old Karl Murphy had gone missing early on Friday evening in the company of his mother and was found two hours later by an off-duty garda escorting a group of boy scouts on the beach.
The mother is understood to have been found in a nearby cave and was taken to hospital in Loughlinstown in Co Dublin before being transferred to Newcastle psychiatric hospital in Co Wicklow.
The boy was confirmed dead on the beach and also taken to Loughlinstown Hospital where a post-mortem was carried out.
Gardaí said that "for operational reasons" they were not disclosing the results of the post-mortem and would not confirm reports the boy had died from drowning.
A murder inquiry has been launched and gardaí are appealing for witnesses who were on the north beach area of Greystones on Friday evening to come forward.
Father Edward Barry, who officiated at today's funeral Mass said the community of Ashford, where the boy was buried, was in a state of "numbed shock" at the tragic discovery.
The boy's mother is understood to have discharged herself from hospital to attend today's funeral.
Father Barry said: "I was in Karl's class a couple of days before he died and I noted that he almost took over the conversation and strangely enough they were asking about heaven and angels and saints.
"I remember thinking at the time they are too young to understand these things and it is strange now that I was the expert - insofar as one can be an expert - that day and now he is."
Hundreds packed the small church and Karl's school closed for the day. Father Barry said: "He was extremely popular, he was awfully outgoing and very lively and everybody liked him and I liked him too.
"He will be missed. He only lived to be seven he made a great impact on people and I'm sure the good he has done through his contacts and his friendship will keep going on.
"It will take a few days for it to sink in - there is a sort of numbed shock I suppose. It's only afterwards thinking it over that we will appreciate what has happened."
Additional reporting by PA
