The Acting Principal of Presentation College Headford has described the two students who died in Monday's car crash as "two beautiful young people", who were full of life and full of fun.
Orla Jackson said Lukas Joyce and Kirsty Bohan, both 14 years of age, had a huge circle of friends and were "two particularly pleasant and smiling youngsters".
Two of Lukas and Kirsty’s friends, a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, were injured in the crash and are being treated for their injuries at University Hospital Galway.
It is understood the boy’s condition improved overnight and that his injuries are not life-threatening. The injured girl is still in a serious condition.
The four friends were travelling in a car towards the N84, between Galway and Castlebar, when the vehicle veered into a verge and hit a tree at 5.45am on Monday.
Lukas was pronounced dead at the scene, while Kirsty died later in hospital.
Floral tributes have been placed by locals at the crash site, as the communities around north Galway and south Mayo try to come to terms with the tragedy.
Detectives investigating the crash have appealed to witnesses, or motorists with dashcam footage that may be of benefit to the inquiry, to contact them.
As they work to piece together the events that led to the fatalities, gardaí are hoping to determine exactly how the four teenagers came to be travelling in the car at the time the crash happened.
They are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have been on the L6127 at Glennagarraun, Ballyfruit, near Headford, between 5.30am and 6am on Monday.
Ms Jackson said their deaths had affected across a wide region, around north Co Galway and south Mayo.
She was speaking after students and parents from the area travelled to the school to avail of supports put in place in the aftermath of the tragedy.
All staff, school counsellors, chaplains, NEPS personnel and local clergy attended Presentation College for a number of hours today.
The Acting Principal said she wanted to thank people from all over the country who had made contact with the school in the last 24 hours.
She said the supports put in place to assist students would continue for the rest of the week and into next week when classes resume.
But she said the pain and sense of loss would continue for much longer than that.
While a school critical illness plan is in place for such events, Ms Jackson said a lot of the response was "coming from the heart" and was instinctual.
But she said the school was very concerned about "some of the less savoury comments" about the events that were circulating on social media.
She said: "This is a time to be home safe with your family and I think I would encourage all parents to perhaps remove their children’s phones at the moment.
"I feel it would be terribly detrimental to their mental health at the moment to read some of the comments, some of the conjecture and some of the downright lies that are being written.
"This is an extremely personal, tragic situation and I don’t think it is for any social media commentary whatsoever."
Ms Jackson said young people in the area needed their families, teachers and friends and their community more than anything else right now.
"We will be with them every step of the way and we will be guided by them. We will also stay in contact with their parents.
"Many of us are local and that community will kick in as well so there will be a multi-tiered community support going on here
"This is a community that really is a meitheal and I know they will be well-minded," said Ms Jackson.
