PEOPLE living in the villages and townlands where the five dead teenagers lived were yesterday praised for their “extraordinary community spirit”.

MOURNERS attending the funerals of the victims of the Co Meath bus crash were told their deaths were not in vain if they prompted the country to think of the welfare of our children.

Four of the five teenage schoolgirls killed in Monday's school bus tragedy in Co Meath are due to be laid to rest later today.