The devastated mother of three children killed in their own home was comforted at the scene as hundreds gathered for a vigil tonight.
Heartbroken mother Margaret “Twink” Cash McDonagh was seen leaning on mourners and in floods of tears as she was led away following a vigil of a massive crowd of neighbours, friends and mourners on Rossfield Avenue in Tallaght, south Co Dublin this evening.
The family stood in front of a huge poster featuring pictures of the slain children and a large display of flowers, cards and well wishes that were left outside the scene of the crime which shocked the country.
Read More: Tallaght stabbings: Balloons released as crowd gathers with flowers and candles at home of siblings
And shortly before half five, pink and blue balloons were released into the air as music played and the crowd stood silent - remembering tragic twins Christy and Chelsea Cawley, eight, and their sister Lisa Cash, 18.
The children’s mother was seen crying and being supported by mourners during the emotional vigil.
Earlier in the day dozens of school children had arrived at the scene to place flowers as they paid their respects to the slain children.
Tributes poured out throughout Monday as gardai continued to question a suspect over the killing of all three children.
Tragic twins Christy and Chelsea were stabbed to death and callously thrown out the window of the home after 12.30am on Sunday morning - while their sister Lisa was discovered with stab wounds at the bottom of the stairs.
As the suspect continued to be questioned, locals gathered in the streets, the church and in the schools the children attended.
And speaking to The Star outside the local St Aidan’s Church, parish priest Fr Bill O’Shaughnessy said he had opened the church for the day, to allow the community to grieve and cope with the loss.
“I celebrated mass here about half 10 and only then the news started filtering through about what had happened.
“People started reacting in terms of the shock and dismay at such a violent and horrendous act that’s taken place here in such a small and tight knit community.
“Mass was quiet yesterday because of the shock people had.
“There’s no adequate amount of words that’s going to put peoples hearts and minds at rest at the moment.
“We opened up the church here this morning and have it open all day for the community to come in and say a prayer or light a candle,” he said.
The local priest said the community was reeling from the loss - and he described what happened to the children as “evil.”
“A lot of parents came in here before school this morning and lit a candle.
“We are offering a bit of healing. On top of that it’s about offering a listening ear and indeed a shoulder to cry on.
“An act like this is unnatural. It really is unnatural and it’s an evil act and that will have its lasting effects on peoples hearts and minds for a time to come,” he told us.
Meanwhile at St Aidan’s Community School, where tragic Lisa attended and did her Leaving Certificate, students were united in grief.
Speaking to us, school Principal Kevin Shorthall described how students and staff were trying to come to terms with Lisa’s loss.
“The school is very calm this morning. It’s quiet, there’s a little bit of I suppose numbness and shock.
“We were on the intercom a lot and speaking to people and telling people to just go with that calmness.
“We are just trying to keep things calm in the school today, and let’s just try and do as much of the normal stuff as we can,” he said.
Mr Shorthall said support was being given to grieving students, as he said there are many who knew Lisa who didn’t attend class yesterday.
“I suppose you’ve two sides to it, you’ve the people who are directly connected and they’re not here and they probably won’t be here for a while and then you have people who have less of a connection who walked past the house or witnessed something or whatever it might be.
“We’ve got a responsibility for them as well,” he said.
“So we’re going to face this and keep every thing else in mind as well.”
Paying tribute to Lisa, Mr Shorthall told how she completed her Leaving Certificate at the school last year.
“Lisa was a student here. She left in 2021, did her Leaving Cert in difficult circumstances.
“She was obviously doing her leaving through covid.
“I do know her and I know the family but I suppose I’ve been getting messages from all our staff on just telling me stories about her, how good of a student she was, how sincere she was, how calm she was, how quietly diligent she was and a lovely, lovely girl,” he said.
“She was very popular. A great big sister, a lovely person”.
And he told how even though her class have graduated, a space was being made at the school for any of them to come and talk and grieve together.
“Her year are gone but we are going to have a space here for people from her year to come back if they need to and just come and talk to us.
“The way we are going to deal with this is just see what we encounter. We do have a plan and we have things in place but you can’t be so rigid.
“We support each other and we’ll keep talking,” he said.
Meanwhile authorities in the local St Aidan’s Senior National School, where the tragic eight year old twins were due to start third class this week, asked for privacy as they try to deal with the tragedy.
It comes as Garda Commissioner Drew Harris also spoke, saying support will be given to officers who attended the harrowing scene.
“It’s one of the worst incidents that I’ve heard of or come across in my service.
“We have put in place appropriate support for them, but we’d also acknowledge very much the trauma visited on the local community in terms of the shock of this incident and the subsequent grief.
“And that can’t be underestimated either,” he said.
Describing it as “sincerely the most dreadful incident”, he renewed an appeal for information.
“We are obviously now engaged in an investigation, and so it’s limited what I can say in respect of that.
“I would appeal to anyone who was in the area of Rossfield Avenue in the early hours of Sunday morning - 12.30am.
“If they haven’t spoken to Garda already, they should contact my colleagues in Tallaght”.
READ NEXT:
- Tragic Dublin twins were callously thrown out top window of home after being stabbed
- Kerry Katona dances with Brian McFadden for first time in years as exes reunite in Irish pub
- RTE's Daithi O'Se thanks energy saving tipster as he knocks over €450 off bill
- Dunnes, Tesco, Lidl and more Irish supermarkets refunding fruit, crisps and other 'unsafe' food
- Budget 2023 'to include two payments of over €200 and more in cost of living boost'
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
