Something people 'just have to do'

As for many hundreds of others, signing the book of condolences at Donnybrook Garda station was just something Ms Tara O'Connell "had to do".

At lunchtime yesterday Ms O'Connell, who works locally, joined a small but continuous queue to sign the books of condolences for Gardaí Anthony Tighe (53) and Michael Padden (27).

Up to 10 people at a time were waiting in the small reception area of the station throughout yesterday to express sympathy for the families and colleagues of the two gardaí, killed on Sunday morning when a stolen car hit their patrol car on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.

On the footpath outside the station, propped against the railings, more than 50 bunches of flowers had been placed, some bouquets, others clearly picked from gardens. Daffodils, sun-flowers, roses, marigolds, lilies, carnations, irises, daisies and forget-me-nots were among them.

A garda who came out to bring some indoors said there were "absolutely heaps" of flowers in a room at the back of the station. "Literally hundreds and hundreds," he said, "from people living in the area, businesses, all the embassies. Some will be going down to Belmullet today for Michael's funeral tomorrow," he said.

"Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people have signed the books of condolences. We've had to open a second one. The phones haven't stopped, with people ringing from all over the country. "It's very important," he said when asked what the outpouring of sympathy has meant to the gardaí and the station. "I think it's very, very important."

Among those arriving with more flowers yesterday was Ms Eileen Bergin who runs the Butler's Pantry shop on nearby Morehampton Road.

"We know some of the guards here, and I think it's nice for them to know that to people in the area what has happened matters. It really does matter," she said.

Ms Ciara Fennell said she was signing the books "just simply out of sympathy, because they are real people who do a great job".

Mr Alan Cummins, a student at UCD, was leaving the station with his friend, Ms Jennifer Riley.

"I signed it because my dad's a garda in Swords," he said, while Ms Riley had done so because she lived round the corner from where it happened, in The Rise.

Mr Bill Kelly, from Co Meath, was in Dublin yesterday on business.

"I just said I'd come in and sign it because I was in the city. I think it's terrible, a disgrace, that people just out doing their job, that this should happen to them," he said.

"When I saw that one of the young fellows should have been in prison or somewhere but was out because there was nowhere to put him . . . it's just a disgrace,"

The books of condolences will remain open at Donnybrook Garda station until tomorrow evening.