The first funerals for victims of the County Donegal petrol station explosion have taken place in the village devastated by the tragedy.
Separate masses was held for fashion designer Jessica Gallagher, 24, who had been due to start a new job on Monday, and Martin McGill, 49, who was originally from Scotland, in St Michael's Church, Creeslough.
Ten people, aged 5 to 59, were killed in the disaster on Friday in the Irish village with an official population of only 393.
At Ms Gallagher’s service, Father John Joe Duffy, who will preside over many of the Creeslough funerals, said Donegal had always been “in her heart”, even while studying in Paris and Shanghai.
“No matter how far she travelled or progressed, the place she was proud of was her beautiful family home — her touchstone, her rock and her pillar,” he said.
“She could talk for all Ireland. So, if you think the homily might be a little long this morning, she would probably go on longer than me."
A lone piper led Mr McGill’s coffin into St Michael’s and a Celtic FC shirt was brought to the front of the church.
Father Duffy also presided over Mr McGill's service. “Martin was a carer who was filled with love, filled with kindness and compassion,” he said.
“Despite the awful, horrible tragedy that has struck at the very heart of this community and broken our hearts, from the very first moment aren’t those the key words that have been in action in this community but have always been in action in this community.”
Ireland's police force, An Garda Siochana, is investigating the cause of the blast at a building complex that included the service station, a convenience store and residential apartments, but so far it is being treated as a “tragic accident”.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin told the parliament: “As the people of Creeslough begin the rituals of funerals and burials, we gather as an Oireachtas [parliament] this afternoon, to offer our sincere sympathy, express our shared respect for the bereaved and the injured and to remember and honour those who have died.
“It is important that those struggling to make sense of the enormous and heartbreaking loss now confronting them, know that the entire nation is with them in spirit."
The other eight victims were Robert Garwe, 50, and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, 5, who were in the shop to buy a birthday cake; James O'Flaherty, 48; Leona Harper, 14; Catherine O'Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13; Hugh Kelly, 59; and Martina Martin, 49.
Witness Colin Kilpatrick was only a few metres from the petrol station when the blast ripped through the building and knocked him over.
“I got out of the lorry and saw the shop and then I knew what happened,” he said. "We ran to the shop and there was a young girl there and she was squealing that her sisters or friends were still inside.
“We got her across the road then went back and there was a man stuck under the door. I shouted for the jack of a car and we got the door off him.
“We couldn't lift it without the jack; you think you are strong but we couldn't move it. We stayed with him until the ambulance came just to comfort him.”
A funeral has been arranged for O'Flaherty in St Mary's Church in Derrybeg on Wednesday.
A joint service will be held for O'Donnell and her son at St Michael's in Creeslough, also on Wednesday.
Harper’s funeral will take place at St Mary's Church in Ramelton on Thursday.
