N. IRELAND: BALLYMONEY: FUNERAL OF MURDERED CATHOLIC BROTHERS

(14 Jul 1998) Natural Sound

The funeral Mass of the three boys killed in an arson attack in Northern Ireland has taken place.

Among mourners at the Catholic Our Lady and St. Patrick church in Ballymoney was Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon and the firemen who tried to save the boys during Sunday's blaze.

The bodies were then taken to the nearby town of Rasharkin for burial.

There can be few scenes more harrowing than this, even in Northern Ireland's turbulent history.

The bodies of the three boys were carried from their grandmother's home in Rasharkin to the nearby town of Ballymoney for the funeral service.

Their father, John Dillon, wept as he carried one of the three coffins.

It's a tragedy which has shocked the whole community.

Chrissie Quinn, the mother of the boys, joined the procession but there was no comforting her.

Much of the town had turned out to honour the procession and the Quinn family which has had roots here for many years.

No one could understand the motivation for such a crime.

Richard, Mark and Jason Quinn were killed at the weekend when their home in Ballymoney was firebombed in a sectarian attack.

Tensions spilling over from the blocked Protestant march near Portadown were blamed for the Sunday morning firebombing of the Quinn house.

Police said they believed the family was targeted because Chrissie Quinn lived there with her Protestant boyfriend.

Among the mourners attending Tuesday's funeral was Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon who was representing the newly elected assembly in the province.

Silence greeted the funeral cortege's arrival for the service, apart from the peel of bells coming from the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and St. Patrick.

The firemen who tried to rescue the boys from Sunday's fire were among those who attended the funeral.

Chrissie Quinn has been in shock since the murders but insisted on a Catholic funeral.

She had been raising the boys as Protestants because she thought it would make life easier for them living in such a hard-line Protestant community.

Pictures of the boys in happier times lay on top of the coffins along with the brass nameplates and crosses.

The Most Reverend Patrick Walsh, Bishop of Down and Connor told the congregation nothing could prepare him for the "unnatural" sight of the three little coffins.

He said society had failed the three children.

After the 90 minute service the boys' coffins were returned to the hearse.

There wasn't a dry eye among the huge crowd who had waited silently outside throughout the service.

The cortege began the slow march from Ballymoney back to Rasharkin for the burial.

Irene Quinn, the boys' grandmother, said her daughter wanted them buried in Rasharkin so she never again would have to set foot in Ballymoney.

The funeral focused a global spotlight on the emotional distress and devastation that more than 20 years of violence have wrought on individual families.

Members of the Protestant Orange Order shied away from confrontation on Monday in parades across Northern Ireland.

At hundreds of marches, Orangemen paused for silence in respect for the siblings.

Bitter divisions have emerged following the deaths.

But despite calls from both nationalist and unionist communities for the Orange Order to call off its protests, the Drumcree standoff - which sparked the week of violence - continues.

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