President to host Mass for drowned boys

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese is to host a special Mass for the families of two young boys who drowned in a private swimming pool.

Mrs McAleese expressed profound shock and sadness to the parish priest who will carry out the joint funeral Mass for four-year-old Shea Laverty and two-year-old David Smith.

The boys drowned on Friday evening after crawling through a gap in the fence into the grounds of the large house close to their homes in Ardaveen Mews, Newry, Co Down.