The parents and family of Midleton schoolboy Robert Holohan were yesterday praised for their resilience and courage during the past year as they remembered their son at a Mass to mark the first anniversary of his death.
Fr Billy O'Donovan - who had comforted the family last January when Robert disappeared and later when his body was found dumped at Inch Strand - yesterday concelebrated the special anniversary Mass in Midleton for the 11-year-old schoolboy.
Last month a neighbour of the Holohans, Wayne O'Donoghue (21), of Ballyedmond, Midleton, was acquitted of Robert's murder but found guilty of his manslaughter. He is due to be sentenced on January 24th.
Fr O'Donovan told Robert's parents, Mark and Majella, that they and their children, Emma (9) and Harry (5), had proven a beacon of hope for many by the manner in which they had dealt with the terrible tragedy which had befallen them on January 4th, 2005, when Robert disappeared.
"Mark and Majella and family - the past 12 months you have shown remarkable courage and strength - you have been an example under extraordinarily difficult circumstances," Fr O'Donovan said in the Church of the Holy Rosary in Midleton.
"There are so many family occasions that have come and gone in that year but Robert wasn't there and this is the pain of the first year, the most difficult time. Today we pray for you that it may not be so difficult in the future.
"Today you look back on the past year but a first anniversary is an occasion that almost forces us to look forward as well. The family have been remarkable in the past 12 months. Maybe today you're asked to continue to be a beacon of light and of hope for the future."
He added: "You, as family, must seek to go forward. You, as community here in Midleton, must seek to go forward, as must the wider community. As family and as community we will never forget, nor would we want to forget, Robert - we never will.
"But one of the thoughts that lingers from Robert's funeral this time last year was the extraordinary response from the community and from the nation - it made us, even if for a brief time, rediscover human and Christian values that many felt had been missing."
Fr O'Donovan welcomed the Holohan family, including Robert's grandparents, Willie and Mona Murray, and other relatives. He also welcomed many in the congregation who had helped in the search for the boy.
Among those at the Mass were retired assistant Garda commissioner Tony Hickey and Det Supt John O'Mahony and Det Sgt Peter Kenny from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who travelled from Dublin for the service. Also present were Chief Supt Kieran McGann, Supt Liam Hayes and Insp Martin Dorney and the team of local detectives from Midleton who had worked on the case.