Teachers to counsel classmates of boy after shooting

Classmates of six-year-old Sean Scully, who was shot on Friday night, are to receive counselling at school today.

A department of education psychologist has been deployed to the school for this week and teachers have been briefed on how best to deal with questions and concerns from children.

Sean was shot in the neck by a gunman chasing another man at Croftwood Gardens, Ballyfermot, Dublin just after 10pm on Friday.

The child, the younger of two brothers, was watching other children at play on the green when he was hit.

Doctors at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin were preparing him for a second round of surgery yesterday, as his distraught parents waited anxiously to find out if he is likely to be left with permanent damage.

“They are showing amazing grace. I think it’s a kind of adrenalin that’s keeping them going. They are just pouring every ounce of love and comfort into Sean and being close to him and reaffirming him,” said local priest, Fr Gerry O’Connor.

Fr O’Connor is chairman of the board of Sean’s school, St Ultan’s National School, and said teachers and other staff would do all they could to help the children deal with the incident.

“It’s a highly emotional and confusing time for children hearing their pal has been shot. Different children will have heard different levels of detail about what happened, so it’s all about trying to respond to them as individuals as well as supporting the school community collectively.”

Local councillor Daithí de Róiste is also on the board of management and said the ripple effect of the shooting was overwhelming. “Our first responsibility is to Sean and his family but there are children who saw what happened to him, there are children who heard what happened to him, he is part of a wider school community and there the neighbours, friends, extended family — all are affected by this.

“People are still shocked at what exactly has gone on. They can’t believe that a child could be involved in something like this. The sheer scale of it is hard for people to understand.

“They’re demanding a response. They want to know what’s going to happen, not just now but to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.We can’t change what happened last Friday but people want to know what to do about the children who will be out playing next Friday evening.”

Mr de Róiste said the lack of visible policing had been a local concern. “I’m not blaming the gardaí — they’re under a lot of pressure — but it’s rare to see a patrol car and even rarer to see a garda on foot.”

Gardaí meanwhile renewed their appeal for help in finding the gunman, who is known to them but has gone on the run since the shooting. A second man who also fled the scene is also being hunted.

Last night it emerged that a man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of withholding information in connection with the shooting.