Inside The Print Junction yesterday, Ms Bernadette Sands-McKevitt looked tired, puffy faced and red-eyed. She politely told the reporters who arrived in a trickle that she was not going to say anything.
She opened The Print Junction for business as usual yesterday morning. The shop sells printed T-shirts, family heraldry plaques and some tourist items, as well as offering a photograph enlargement service. Throughout yesterday, people stopped outside The Print Junction in the Long Walk shopping centre and stared at her.
Her partner, a former leading member of the IRA, Mr Michael McKevitt, who is also involved in the business, was not there yesterday.
Mr McKevitt, who opposes the peace process, is part of the breakaway republican group, the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of the `Real IRA' which carried out the Omagh blast.
Other traders in the shopping centre want the McKevitts out now. Shoppers stood outside the shop in small groups yesterday afternoon telling reporters they wanted the shop closed. Many were very eager to speak to the press but none wanted to be named. They said they were afraid: both of the prospect of loyalist reprisals on their town and of the `Real IRA'.
"The book of condolences should be put up outside that door," said one woman, her voice quivering. "You know what we want to do with her," she said, looking through the window at Ms Sands-McKevitt. "But people are afraid of them."
Another woman said: "I think it's a shame that our town should be brought to its knees . . . they should be run out of town. We don't want this and we don't want these people who are putting us to shame."
"The shop should be closed," said another. "The cheek of them to open that shop on the day of the funerals."
Traders had similarly angry responses. "They have brought disgrace to the name of Dundalk," said one shopkeeper who works not far from The Print Junction. "I'm surprised they are still open; they're brazening it out, putting a tough face on it. I wouldn't have anything to do with them anymore." Business is down and several hundred people have telephoned the shopping centre to say they will no longer shop there until the shop is closed. The Print Junction itself has received many abusive calls. On Tuesday, they were abusive enough to lead to the closure of the shop within an hour of its opening.
Bunches of flowers with black ribbons were placed on hoarding in front of the closed shop. The messages attached to them were all hostile to the McKevitts.
Those who have spoken to her say Ms Sands-McKevitt has been traumatised by the events of the week and the hostility she has received. She contacted a local priest, Father Desmond Campbell, in tears on Tuesday to say she was very frightened and fearful for her children. Mr McKevitt also spoke to Father Campbell to say he had no hand, act or part in the Omagh attack.
Mr McKevitt's elderly mother, who also lives in the town, opened her door just a couple of inches to a reporter yesterday afternoon. "They didn't do it," she said.
Yesterday, Ms Sands-McKevitt braved the abuse, opening her shop for the entire day. She was never alone in the shop, with friends appearing to operate a rota to keep her company. One person working at the centre said there were people "floating around" the shopping centre trying to ensure her safety.
Traders have made their views known to the shopping centre management and the management has examined whether it can terminate the McKevitts' lease. Solicitors for the management have written to the McKevitts, it is understood, but it is not known what they said. A British-based senior executive from the management company is understood to have arrived in Dundalk yesterday to consider the situation.
"There have been undesirable elements living in this town for the past 30 years," according to local deputy, Mr Brendan McGahon. "We had an influx of people from the North when the Troubles began and we received them. But over the years we have had too many of them."
"We have had our fair share of hoodlums in this town over the last 30 years," says his brother, Cllr Johnny McGahon. "But they don't walk around the streets with grenades," he added to explain why they live openly in the town.
"It's a matter for the ordinary men, woman and children of this town and county to show their abhorrence peacefully," according to Cllr Terry Brennan.
A planned march on the McKevitts' house at Blackrock, near Dundalk, was reduced to a rally at a car park near the house last night. On Saturday, a rally is planned for 5 p.m.
Mr Brendan McGahon said he knew Ms Sands-McKevitt was concerned about her children, particularly since reports of the planned march on her house. He had disagreed with such a march. "I don't think their children can be held culpable and they expressed concern for their children and that's understandable.
"But he (Mr Michael McKevitt) and his lady friend have given numerous interviews and gone on television and Ms Sands went on a tour of Ireland spreading her doctrine. I believe they have visited this horror upon themselves and I shed no tears for them. But I do not believe in mob law, I believe in the courts."