Hundreds of people attended an ecumenical prayer service in Galway yesterday in solidarity with the people of Omagh.
The open-air service at Eyre Square was led by the Bishop of Galway, the Most Rev James McLoughlin, Dr Robert McCarthy of St Nicholas Church and the Rev Robert Cobain of the Presbyterian Church.
It was attended by the Minister for Defence, Mr Andrews, the Mayor of Galway,
Ms Angela Lynch Lupton, and a large group of local political and business representatives.
Bishop McLoughlin offered a special welcome to a group of Ulster rugby players who were in Galway for yesterday's Connacht v Ulster game. He said: "At some time in our lives, each of us will have had a personal experience of tragedy when words are deprived of the power of meaning and the only support that can be given is the silent handclasp or silent presence."
Bishop McLoughlin said Omagh had brought the whole country to a standstill in silent sympathy with those bereaved, maimed and dead.
"I know the Lord will span the distance of time and country and transform our silence into comfort and support for those who have to live the rest of their lives with the scarring and emptiness," he said.
The bishop prayed that the perpetrators of the bombing would have a change of heart so that true peace could reign in Ireland.
Twenty-eight people each carried a rose in memory of those who lost their lives in Omagh. One was the Ulster Rugby Union president, Mr John Callaghan, who was in Galway for the match.