The funerals take place today of two young boys who drowned in a disused swimming pool in Newry, Co Down, last Friday.
Shea Laverty (4) and David Smith (2) found their way through a gap in a fence near their homes at Ardaveen Mews into a neighbour's garden where there is an outdoor pool.
They were found there by the father of one of the boys at about 5 p.m. Mr Brian Smith followed instructions by phone on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a paramedic while an ambulance from the city's Daisy Hill hospital went to the scene.
The children were taken to the hospital but were pronounced dead at 7 p.m.
The boys' families had recently moved into the housing development and lived just three doors apart. Shea Laverty would have been five next week. His younger brother was with the boys when they died but was unhurt.
The local parish priest, Father Richard Naughton, will celebrate a joint requiem Mass for the dead boys at Cloughogue church on the outskirts of Newry this morning.
Referring to the two families, Father Naughton said: "They have lost a darling child, and you realise that it is within the family themselves that a lot of healing takes place. You are hoping and praying that they can give the strength to each other."
He added: "They have been joined together in grief by this shared tragedy. That sense of them suffering together will be symbolised tomorrow. The death of a child is the fear that every parent has. Everyone is aware it can happen and they can identify with these parents."
He said he had been contacted by the President, Mrs McAleese, who conveyed her shock and sadness.
"President McAleese said she felt intensely sad for the parents of those two little boys. She is having a Mass in Áras an Uachtaráin, and they will be praying for the families," he said.
David Smith is to be buried in the Sacred Heart cemetery at Cloughogue, just off the main Belfast to Dublin road, and Shea Laverty will be buried in a family plot in Coalisland, Co Tyrone.
The PSNI is investigating the tragedy.
Mr Davy Hyland, a Newry and Armagh Assembly member, said: "There is a stunned air of disbelief and desolation throughout the area. Everyone I have talked to has a cloud of darkness, a sense of loss over him or her.
"Our thoughts, prayers and support has to be with the families who have to try and come to some sort of terms with their terrible loss."
The SDLP's Mr Dominic Bradley said: "There are some events which are almost beyond words. All we can do is try to convey our feelings to those most closely affected by the tragedy."