Ireland mourns victims of blaze on Travellers site

Prayers were said at Masses across Ireland on Sunday for the victims of a fire which tore threw a Travellers site near Dublin on Saturday. Ten people, including five children from two families died in the blaze. Archbishop Diarmuid Martn said the news was heartbreaking.

The victims were Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert, their daughters Kelsey and Jodie, Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children Jim, Christy and six-month-old Mary. Jimmy Lynch, 39, a brother of Willie, also died in the blaze. Two adults and a child who were injured remain in hospital. Police are investigating the cause of the blaze but it is not being treated as suspicious.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny visited the site on Sunday to offer his sympathy to the families of those who died. He said flags on government and public buildings would fly at half-mast on the days the victims' funerals take place. The entrance to the site is covered is now covered in flowers and messages of sympathy left by relatives and members of the public.

A minute's silence was held before the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2016 qualifying match against Poland in Warsaw on Sunday evening, as a mark of respect.

Geraldine Dunn, from the Southside Traveller Action Group support group said the victims' families were in great shock. "I don't think Ireland has slept last night thinking about the tragedy, so I really don't know how to sum it up in one word, the effect of what has happened," she said. "I have to say all our communities have been outstanding with the amount of support that they have given. The whole country has come together to support in any kind of a way that they can."