An Enniskillen schoolboy killed by a bomb planted on a boat in the seaside village of Mullaghmore has been remembered this week 40 years after one of the darkest days of the Troubles.

Paul Maxwell was 15-years-old when he was killed in the explosion onboard a fishing boat in 1979 which also killed Lord Mountbatten, Lady Doreen Brabourne and his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull.

The teenager was remembered by his family in a memorial at the site of the bomb on Tuesday where his father, John read from Seamus Heaney’s play ‘The Cure at Troy’.

The pertinent lines have in the past been quoted by the US President Bill Clinton in a 1995 visit to Londonderry/Derry during the Peace Process as he outlined his vision for peace in Northern Ireland.

The IRA murders of Mountbatten, Paul Maxwell and the others plus 18 soldiers at Narrow Water were commemorated on Tuesday.

In Mullaghmore, a service was held to remember those killed while at Narrow Water, County Down, veterans gathered at the roadside to remember the soldiers who were killed at the spot by two IRA bombs later on the same day in 1979.

The mother and father of Paul Maxwell were among those who attended the outdoor service on a clifftop overlooking the scene of the atrocity.

John Maxwell from Bellanaleck and Mary Hornsey laid a wreath together.

At Narrow Water, more than 200 veterans, politicians and local people were present for the service and wreath-laying ceremony on the banks of the Newry River.

During the cross-community religious service at Mullaghmore, Church of Ireland archdeacon Isaac Hanna said the day offered an opportunity for everyone to rededicate themselves to the goal of reconciliation on the island of Ireland.

“The events of 40 years ago are hard to imagine as we look out over this scene,” he said, as Paul Maxwell’s parents watched from the front row.

“And yet they speak of innocence lost, they speak of a time when horror visited this coastline and this place, they speak of a time of confusion and fear.

“I also want to say they speak of a time when a community rallied around those that had lost loved ones, when this community stood with this family in particular and all those who had been affected in some way, and said: ‘This was not done in our name.’

“We stand with you and there is comfort and strength in knowing that you have this support in this place at this time.” Archdeacon Hanna said the bombers had not succeeded if their goal was to strike fear into people.

“Fear can have a stifling effect on those who are coerced and are intimidated in any way, and perhaps that was the intention that day – but the opposite has been the effect,” he said.

The cleric added: “Today is as much about rededicating ourselves to the cause of justice, the cause of reconciliation and the cause of freedom, so that no person should have to go through what you as a group have gone through.”

After the service, Mary Hornsey said it had been a privilege to attend.

“I think it was absolutely wonderful that the community came out today and organised this lovely service of remembrance,” she said.

“I would like to say thank you to all of those people who took part in this. It has helped us enormously because I feel that in this service there was love and support for our family, and we appreciate that.,” she said.