Hope had drained from the searchers' faces as they returned in small, silent groups, writes Carl O'Brien. 'You wanted to find a body, and you didn't want to,' said one volunteer who took part in the search
As volunteers helping in the search for the missing 11-year-old boy trudged home yesterday evening, Mr Maurice Moloney, the owner of East Cork Golf Club, folded his arms and sighed.
"The community will never be the same again," he said. "Things have changed. We all just have to be more vigilant. We have to be conscious of where are kids are all the time. That's the case in Midleton, and everywhere else."
For days, hundreds of volunteers set out from his golf club each morning, optimistic there might still be a positive outcome to Robert Holohan's disappearance. Yesterday evening, hope had drained from their faces as they returned back to the clubhouse in small, silent groups.
One mother, a neighbour of the Holohans, sobbed quietly in the corner of the room, consoled by others. Other groups sat quietly in front of uneaten plates of sandwiches.
Local people in Midleton are numbed by yesterday's discovery of the body - unofficially confirmed last night as that of Robert - and are trying to come to terms with what impact his disappearance and death will have on life in east Cork.
"This is going to take time to sink in," said Mr Moloney, a father of three young children. "There isn't so much anger or fear; there is just the need to be vigilant now, all the time.
"Parents have been dropping their children to the front door of the school. Some parents say they won't let their children out of their sight."
The fear that the perpetrator involved in Robert's disappearance may be living in the area is one of the most worrying things to emerge in recent days. Many people talk about the need for the person responsible to be brought to justice swiftly. Others say that if gardaí know there are paedophiles living in the area, they too should have the right to know.
"I've no problem over who I live next to," says Mr Niall Barrett, a parent from Carrigtwohill, "but you need to feel reassured. We should be allowed to know where people on the register live in the community. I think they need help as well."
Mr Moloney says this is an opinion widely held among people in the community, but says there is little danger of a vigilante-style response.
"I get the feeling that, despite everything, people will let the gardaí off to do their job. They have been helping the gardaí in recent days and they see the professional way they do things."
Mr Barrett, a father of two, adds: "The perpetrator who did this will have to be brought to justice. People won't be happy until that happens."
Parents have been particularly worried about the way their children might react to Robert's disappearance. Teachers at Robert's school, the local CBS national school, have been trying to maintain normality in the school which resumed this week.
Counselling and psychological intervention have been made available by health authorities, while a local priest led each class in a special prayer ceremony when classes started back at the beginning of the week.
"It's hard for children to understand," says one teacher, who declined to be named. "If we don't understand it, how can we expect children to understand it? The only thing we can do is try and continue with things in as normal and routine a way as possible."
Despite the grief hanging over Midleton over the last week, local people have been heartened by the response to the search for Robert. Shops, restaurants, guesthouses and businesses ferried supplies of tea, sandwiches and cakes to the golf club for the hundreds of volunteers who turned up each day.
Volunteers came from across the county to help out, along with dozens of mountaineering clubs, coastal rescue groups and hunting clubs.
"People were offering everything," says Mr Moloney. "It was amazing. It shows you that when people are in trouble, the community will come out in support. People are fundamentally good, and that comes out at times like this."
Volunteers also described their mixed emotions over the discovery of the body yesterday.
"You wanted to find a body, and you didn't want to," said one volunteer from Midleton who declined to be named. "Each time you'd lift a corrugated piece of metal, or open a shed door you'd feel the same thing.
"As the days went on we began to wonder what, if anything, would happen. Majella's [Robert's mother] appeal to keep searching on RTÉ kept everybody coming out."
Another local volunteer says she has been heartened by the response of the community. "I thought the community was falling apart until this happened, I've been meeting people I haven't seen in years, and everybody has felt motivated to contribute something."