The funeral has taken place in Co Meath of a man who survived a loyalist gun attack almost 50 years ago in which his two sons and his brother were killed.
Bernard (Barney) O'Dowd survived the attack by at his home in Gilford, Co Down, in 1976.
He died last week at the age of 100.
Two of his sons, 24-year-old Barry and 19-year-old Declan, and his brother Joe, were killed in the attack which was carried out by the UVF on 4 January 1976.
On the same night, 24km away, three brothers from the Reavey family were also shot and killed.
The next day, the IRA carried out the Kingsmill massacre, in which ten Protestant workmen were killed.
Following the attack, the O'Dowd family left Northern Ireland and settled in Navan, Co Meath.
Mr O'Dowd's funeral mass took place at St Mary's Church in Navan.
In the eulogy delivered by Fr Martin McErlane, the congregation heard it seemed "almost miraculous" that Mr O'Dowd survived the attack in which he was severely wounded and left for dead, "never mind live to commemorate his 100th birthday and a little beyond".
The events surrounding the deaths of Barry, Declan and Joe O'Dowd were among the darkest times of the Troubles.
Mourners today heard how the "tit-for-tat killings on the darkest of all January months in 1976 led to the shootings of ten Protestant workmen the following night".
Fr McErlane said this was something both families (O'Dowd and Reavey), "would not have wanted or condoned".
The funeral heard that despite the adversity in his life, he had a zest for life and tenacity.
The congregation also heard that while Mr O'Dowd had "every reason to be consumed by bitterness for those who murdered his nearest and dearest, he chose a different route, achieving his own justice by outliving the forces that had sought to destroy him and his family".
The events surrounding the deaths of Barry, Declan and Joe O'Dowd were among the darkest times of the Troubles.
Mourners today heard how the "tit-for-tat killings on the darkest of all January months in 1976 led to the shootings of ten Protestant workmen the following night".
Fr Martin McErlane said this was something both families (O'Dowd and Reavey), "would not have wanted or condoned".
