Alan Murphy (27) stood tall and still as he received a 14-year jail sentence from Judge Carroll Moran in Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. There was hardly a murmur in the heated, packed courtroom as the waiter from Newcastle, Co Down, was led away after being sentenced for the manslaughter of three elderly sisters who died in a house fire he started on Inishbofin in July 1999.
Sitting in court were his parents, Frank and Bridie Murphy, who had been present throughout last month's trial.
At the rear, a daughter of one of the women who died in the fire dabbed her eyes as she heard the judge consider the evidence.
On the island, the two-storey house at Middle Quarter is still a burnt-out shell, and the events of July 6th, 1999, have had a "devastating effect" on the population, as Supt Tony Dowd told yesterday's hearing.
Up in "the gods" of St Colman's Church near the harbour, cans of paint are stacked neatly against the wall. The interior has been redecorated recently in all of 10 colours - shades of red, pink, cream, blue and yellow catch the Atlantic light streaming through the stained-glass windows. The floor has been sanded and varnished, the sanctuary has a new carpet, and the church also has an improved sound system. The cheque to cover the work, costing about US$10,000, is pinned to the notice board. Dated December 5th, 1999, it was raised by friends of St Colman's Church in Brooklyn, New York, in memory of the three Concannon sisters - Mrs Eileen Coyne (81), Mrs Bridget McFadden (80) and Miss Margaret Concannon (72).
Eileen had lived on the island all her life; her two sisters were visiting her from England at the time of the fire.
Eileen was a daily Massgoer, as were her sisters. Bridget, who was married and had three children in Slough, loved coming back for summer visits, as did her sister Margaret, a qualified air traffic controller. They would spend time with three brothers, Matty, Christy, and Martin who died last year, and they would tend their parents' graves.
Flanked by Inishark and High Island and lying 8 km off the north-west Connemara coast, "Bofin" has attracted many callers - welcome and otherwise - from 7th century monks to Cromwellian soldiers to the Spanish pirate, Don Bosco, who was an ally of the O'Malley clan.
Alan Murphy was a visitor in July 1999. He had worked in the Derryclare restaurant in Clifden for over a year, and was, as his former employer, Mr Peter Heffernan, told yesterday's hearing a "very loyal, honest, good-hearted, good-humoured" member of the staff.
On the evening of July 5th the sisters had a meeting with a family member, David Con cannon, who had come in search of roots. When they returned home to bed, they saw no need to lock the door.
That same night, Alan Murphy was well into one of 10 pints. He had travelled out to Inishbofin on the ferry from Cleggan - just 15 minutes from Clifden - earlier in the day and had booked into a hostel on the island.
As the evening wore on, his behaviour was described as bizarre, and he was ejected from Day's pub on the island at 1.45 a.m. "I was mad at the way I was treated since coming on to the island," he told gardai later.
Returning to the hostel, he saw a porch light in Eileen Coyne's two-storey house. He walked up the narrow path and found the front door unlocked. He started lighting papers.
Afterwards he said it did not bother him that there might be people in the house because he was in a bad mood. "I felt everyone was against me. This was a way of expressing my revenge."
The alert was raised in the early hours, and valiant efforts to save the women were made with scant resources - garden hoses and fire extinguishers from the hotel. Afraid of people's reaction, Murphy jumped off the pier, ended up waist-deep in water, and refused assistance from those who tried to pull him out. He was later assisted from the water and taken into Clifden.
It was the first time there had been three coffins in the church, and it was the worst tragedy to hit the island since 1927 when 25 fishermen perished off Cleggan. The Western Health Board offered counselling.
Everybody knew the trial would be difficult, but its collapse on the second day of hearing in late February - after it emerged that a garda had taken tea with the jury - exacerbated the trauma. The hearing resumed with a new jury on February 27th and ran for nine days. The jury of six women and six men returned a unanimous guilty verdict on seven charges, after three days' deliberation.
Mr Noel Schofield, development officer with Inishbofin Community Development Company, says most people now just want to try to get on with their lives.
But the lack of proper fire services almost two years afterwards - and a staggering 23 years after the initial request to the local authority - is a particular concern on the island. On March 12th last, Galway County Council told the development company that the Department of the Environment was deciding on "standards of fire equipment" for the islands.
Mr Schofield disputes the claim by Galway County Council, made immediately after the fire, that there would be a difficulty in recruiting volunteers. "There are plenty of people who are willing to get involved," he says, and water supply is good in most areas.
Ms Margaret Day, of Day's Hotel, wonders if the island will ever get over it.
Although there is uncertainty over the family's plans for the house, she and others would like to plant a memorial garden to mark Mrs Coyne's love of flowers.
Father Declan Carroll, the island priest, hopes the sentencing will mark the end of a sad chapter. But, as he said at the funeral Mass, "the morning of the 6th of July is one I will probably never forget for the rest of my life".