The residents of Moyross, the Limerick city estate where two children were critically injured last Sunday when the car they were in was set ablaze, reacted with relief and apprehension yesterday to the news that two local 17-year-old youths had been arrested.
The names of several alleged perpetrators had been openly, if very quietly, discussed on the estate since the incident and anger had been growing.
A 19-year-old woman, who claimed to know the identities of the perpetrators, said she would never "rat" on them. "They're friends . . . I know them", she explained, then added : "But I wouldn't have to rat on them fellas anyway, because my brother would kill them if he got near them."
For many, their relief stems from the hope that perhaps justice will be done, that the tragedy will begin to fade from the public mind and there will be no further "living hell" headlines about the place some 4,500 of them call home.
Yesterday, Allen Meagher, editor of Changing Ireland magazine, with offices in Moyross, called for a boycott of a national newspaper which characterised conditions there as "Welcome to hell".
"There are parts of Moyross which the State has lost control of - temporarily," said Mr Meagher. "But there are six other parts of Moyross to which that headline does not apply, and that is slander. Unfortunately, there is no law that prevents people slandering an area. Newsagents should drop that paper."
A local man shook his head sadly: "It's not fair. They turn up here, taking pictures, getting the stories, 'they burn their babies'. And then they're away again the same night. Who is that helping?"
Against a background of tension around Pineview Gardens, where the attack occurred, and where Limerick Fire Service was called to a house fire in the early hours of yesterday morning, there was sadness for the families of the rumoured perpetrators.
"No mother sends a child out to do something like that", said one resident. One senior garda described it as "a huge tragedy", not only for that of the critically injured children, but also for the families of the perpetrators.
As the politicians and media demanded regiments of gardaí or that the Army be drafted in, residents worried about the new draconian regimes implied by the demands.
"There has been no real response from the community because there's a sense of 'what's going to happen next?'", said one community leader. "We've been hearing the politicians demanding a response. You hear that going on and on, and then of course people start wondering will there be an armed unit at the entrance to the estate tomorrow morning demanding to know what my business is in Moyross. It's like being in limbo".
Down in the Céim ar Céim centre across the road from Moyross, an educational support programme, funded by the probation service mainly for young people referred by the courts, as well as early school-leavers, it was results day for nine Junior Cert students involved in the evening support programme. It was a day of joy and hope, a symbol in a terrible week of how even young lives on the edge can be turned around.