As the body of Patrick Ward was removed from Sligo General Hospital on Tuesday, his elderly mother laid her face on the coffin and cried uncontrollably for her "little boy". Her question, "why did they do this to me?", hung in the air

The blanket explanation of "a feud between Wards and McDonaghs" is undoubtedly oversimplified. Patrick Ward (38) grew up in Co Galway but was living in England when he returned for his uncle's burial in Ballymote cemetery in Co Sligo on Monday. He was shot dead before the hearse arrived from Dublin.

Witnesses described scenes of panic, and it appears there were at least two guns fired during the incident. One other man suffered gunshot injuries, but it is believed he may have accidentally shot himself while trying to flee from the scene.

A retired State Solicitor, Mr Thomas Tighe, living close to the cemetery, had his front door broken in by a man wielding a hedging knife who was running for his life. A gunman, whom Mr Tighe saw firing at the Travellers gathered at the graveyard, then approached his house before finally running away. After the shooting, there was a trail of blood along the footpath to the cemetery.

The Garda did not seem to be expecting any serious trouble. At a number of other Traveller funerals over the past year, up to 200 officers were usually deployed and vehicle searches yielded sizeable amounts of weapons such as slash hooks, machetes, and hammers.

In February last year, at the funeral of Martin "Groundshaker" McDonagh, the Garda recovered more than 200 potential weapons, and a shotgun and a hand gun were also seized.

Funerals are obviously being used as an opportunity to settle scores, particularly by members of families living in England. Scores of weapons were seized at the funeral of a Tom Ward, and three days later, the Garda said it believed the funeral of an infant born in London was being used as a cover for a showdown. It said three bare-fist fights had been planned. There were hardly any women among the mourners, but in the end trouble was averted.

But it would be incorrect to say that all Wards and McDonaghs are at war. Only a small minority has ever got in trouble. Much reference has been made this week to a peace agreement reached between Wards and McDonaghs in Tuam last September.

In fact this agreement is still holding to a very large extent. Chief Supt Bill Fennell, who brokered the deal, said the people involved in the Ballymote murder had "nothing whatsoever" to do with the Ward and McDonagh families in Tuam.

This was confirmed by Travellers in Tuam. Martin Ward, a community youth worker, said that if anything they were only very distant relatives. Some of the Tuam Wards would have gone to Patrick Ward's funeral in Ballinasloe out of respect, he said.

Chief Supt Fennell and other gardai in Tuam, which has the highest population of Travellers of any town in the country, took the initiative to start peace talks because of the threat of a major showdown.

"It was just a case of inviting them in and discussing what they had in common rather than their differences. I think both families were tired of the feud and welcomed the chance to iron out their differences," Chief Supt Fennell said.

AT THE end of the discussions a document was signed by representatives of both sides. It was agreed that the terms of the deal would not be made public. Chief Supt Fennel said that since then things had been quiet in Tuam. Cases coming before the courts now predate the agreement.

Chief Supt Fennell said the cause of feuding between the English-based families is unknown. It does appear more vicious though, as a McDonagh man was also shot dead in England last autumn and a man named Ward has been charged with the killing.

Before September's agreement, trouble between members of the two families in Tuam had been going on for more than a decade and it is not known what caused it originally. At one court case it was said that a fight broke out because a member of one family stepped on a grave of the other family, but the judge pointed out that the defendants had arrived with weapons.

The idea of a fight for supremacy, for the title of King of the Travellers is sometime suggested as one cause. Martin Ward rejected this, saying there hasn't been anybody with that title in over 20 years and nobody was claiming it any more.

He said all Travellers were shocked by Monday's murder and it was felt that people committing such crimes should be brought to justice. "In the settled community 40 and 50 years ago people settled rows with fist fights at marts and fairs. Hopefully it will die out among Travellers as well," he said.

Mr Ward said the publicity after events like Ballymote did a lot of damage as all Travellers were portrayed negatively. Education and training projects such as those he is involved in did not get any coverage.

Ella Mongan, a member of Tuam Town Commissioners, and the only Traveller public representative elected in the country, said that in a time of peace and reconciliation in the country as a whole, she hoped people involved in incidents like Ballymote would be able to sit down and work out their differences.

"I don't know what the cause of their conflict is, but violence is a problem in society as a whole. It is to be found in every nook and cranny in the country, but that does not mean there is any justification for it," she said.

The Garda, meanwhile, does not appear to have made any significant breakthrough in its investigation. Six men arrested on Monday were released without charge. Two more men were arrested in Sligo yesterday morning. Later in the day two other persons were arrested.

The shooting did bring some predictable reaction. Donegal Fianna Fail councillor Peter Kennedy asked: "How are local authorities supposed to support the Travelling community with this sort of thing going on?"

His comments brought an angry reaction from the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christy Jones, who said it was "tragic" to see an elected representative "using this sad, tragic situation to literally reinforce his own negative attitude".

He said he was not condoning what occurred at Ballymote but that there had been "decades of neglect" of Travellers and he believed a lot of the infighting was "born out of poverty and a response to prejudice". Dr Jones said it was only now local authorities were beginning to provide proper halting sites and he believed Travellers would respond positively.

"We have denied them rights, not only to accommodation and to halting sites, but to running water and toilets, and opportunities to work. I've seen it here in Sligo, where they've been discriminated against in terms of work."

He added: "Let's not blame all the Travellers. We have the same kind of horrific things happening in settled communities throughout the country. We read about them every day."