A busy corner of Limerick City is transformed into a space of quiet reflection and prayer during Christmas as people converge to remember absent loved ones.

Sinn Fein demonstrators who forced the abandonment of a policing meeting in a town where Real IRA bombers killed 29 people, are out of touch with public opinion in Northern Ireland, it was claimed today.

Republicans were accused of organising a rowdy protest at the first meeting of a district policing group in Northern Ireland. The meeting had to be abandoned.