THREE TEENAGERS killed in a crash in Co Tipperary are to be buried today.
The three separate funerals take place as confusion continues about the ownership of the car.
Stuart Donnellan (14), Pádraig Bourke (16) and Adrian O'Brien (17) died when the car in which they were travelling went off the Nenagh to Dolla road and crashed into a tree at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Two others, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, are being treated in Limerick Mid-Western Hospital and are in a stable condition.
Investigations into events surrounding the crash are continuing.
A team of gardaí carried out a detailed analysis at the site of the crash and the surrounding area, and postmortems were carried out on the three victims.
The 13-year-old Opel Astra was removed from the scene and forensically examined. Gardaí said yesterday that they had not yet spoken to the two survivors and did not expect to be officially questioning them about the crash until next week.
A Garda spokesman said there was still an element of confusion around the legal ownership of the car and whether or not it was taxed, insured or had passed an NCT at the time of the crash. Inquiries were ongoing, he said.
It is understood the car was purchased locally in the last few weeks for cash in the region of €200.
It has not yet been officially ascertained who the driver of the car was on the night of the crash.
A relative of the injured boy, speaking on local radio station Tipp FM yesterday morning, said he understood a bunch of teenagers chipped in together to buy the vehicle.
Danny Grace, deputy principal of St Joseph's CBS in Nenagh, where Pádraig Bourke went to school, said they would offer support and counselling to pupils affected by the deaths. "When we heard the news we were very shocked and very saddened that so many lives would be snuffed out," he said.
"I think it's particularly sad at this time of the year . . . it's a time of hope for young people."
Mr Grace said Pádraig Bourke was a very personable young man and was preparing for his Leaving Certificate. He said the surviving teenage boy also attended the school.
"We will be offering every help we can to the families of all those bereaved," Mr Grace said.
"We know as well it will be very traumatic for all our own students, particularly those who were close to Pádraig and to the boy who was injured."
The school is also to hold a memorial Mass in the coming week.
Three separate funerals will be held for the teenagers, who were all waked at their homes yesterday.
The first, that of Stuart Donnellan, will take place at 11am in St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh town, followed by burial at Ballinree graveyard.
A service for Adrian O'Brien will be held at Youghlarra Church in Newtown at noon, followed by burial at Youghlarra Cemetery, and Pádraig Bourke's funeral will take place in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Silvermines, at 1.30pm.
He will be laid to rest at Kilmore Cemetery in Silvermines.