Coping with tragedy: Parents, numbed by the tragic deaths of five schoolchildren, are facing the dilemma of helping their own children cope with a tragedy they too are finding difficult to accept.
Like many parents of schoolchildren in Navan, Edwina McGinn is wondering how her child will cope in the days and months ahead.
"Getting over this is going to be a day-to-day process. You hope the counselling and friendships they've made will help them get on with things. For young girls, to get over this ..." she said, her voice trailing off, as her daughter, Elizabeth (14), laid a wreath at her school's entrance.
"You send children off to school for an education. When you say goodbye, you expect them to come home safe. You don't expect this to happen."
The sense of grief hung heavily over the Loreto Convent yesterday as groups of tearful students, many linking arms, sought help from teachers and counsellors at the school.
In an office in the school, where the sobbing of some students was still audible, Sr Mary O'Connor, a spokeswoman for the school, said teachers and experts would do everything they could to help the girls.
"If staff can be supported and helped, it's hoped they can help the students," she said. "As students arrive at the school, they are met by the teachers. Then they're brought to wherever is appropriate. We also have the prayer room in the school, which is staffed all day, if students want to come in and have some quiet time."
Normal classes at the school have been suspended, while counsellors from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) were in the school since early yesterday morning.
For some students, placing a floral tribute at the school was a small way of dealing with their initial grief, while others flocked to a remembrance Mass at St Mary's Church in Navan for the crash victims.
For many, even this was too much. Students choked with tears and struggling for breath left the Church throughout the service. They formed small groups outside, often holding each other for support.
Despite the overwhelming shock, there is a sense among many parents that the tight-knit community of Kentstown and Beauparc, where the victims are from, will help in the long grieving process that awaits.
Elizabeth Sheridan, a mother whose teenage son and daughter survived the crash, said the community would pull together.
"Even at the hospital last night, it was like a community gathering, everyone knew everyone else it's all very shocking. You don't expect a school bus will overturn."
For Bernie O'Byrne, whose 13-year-old son Ruairí (13) escaped from the bus injured, there is relief mixed with unbearable sadness. "Everyone is devastated. It's a small parish. It's just unreal, we can't really comprehend what's happened yet," she said.
"We're just so sorry for families who have lost someone - they are all friends and neighbours. We feel lucky, but for others, their whole lives have been affected."