Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On Friday, our worlds stopped. Our hearts stopped as we learned of the terrible tragedy that was unfolding in Creeslough, a tragedy which makes no sense and whose only lesson is pain and loss. Since then, we have seen the best of each other. A small country becoming one big community to search together, to grieve together and to heal together. This week the world is watching us and it is seeing a nation in tears. As the people from this place, we send our condolences to all those whose grief is still raw and painful and all too terrible to comprehend. A nation stands with you. A nation mourns with you. Seasaimid libhse.

We give our thanks to the emergency services and the rescue workers and volunteers who came to the scene; the women and men who carried the prayers and hopes of a country with them as they did their work over many long and painful hours. We give our thanks to the countless people who are providing comfort and support and kindness to those heartbroken and grieving, whose compassion is the only response to the cruelty and capriciousness of an unjust and random world.

Today we are a country torn apart by grief but we are also a community joining together to help those worst affected and to do what we can to support each other.

The Government will put the full resources of the State behind the efforts to rebuild a broken community, to heal the many emotional and physical wounds. That also requires our help in the medium and long term because the deepest wounds are invisible and can last for a lifetime. When loved ones die in such terrible circumstances, they can become frozen in time. We remember them for how they died not how they lived, whom they loved and the many people who loved them in return. Let us not do that here. Let us celebrate the lives they shared with us, albeit for a very short time, the light they brought into the world and the love that will never die. Their story is now our story and that of our country. We remember them in our hearts today and forever.

Go ndéana Dia trócaire orthu agus go dtuga sé síocháin dóibh. Beidh Dia leo.

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