The mother of two died after being involved in an incident outside Pat's Supermarket in the town square at approximately 9.30pm on Friday night. A 20-year-old woman was arrested in relation to the incident and detained at Balbriggan garda station. Last night she was facing charges under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The dead woman was last night being mourned by her mother and father, Margaret and Tommy McLoughlin, and her two brothers and three sisters.

A group of children on bicycles looked on with shocked faces yesterday afternoon as members of the Garda Technical Bureau carried out a forensic examination of the cordoned-off scene.

A pool of blood and a blood-soaked towel, used by a local nurse in a vain attempt to stop the victim's bleeding, remained in front of the supermarket yesterday.

The closed shutters on Meath councillor Pat Boshell's shop and the bloodstained window provided a stark reminder of the incident that rocked the community the night before.

A stream of Emma McLoughlin's emotionally distraught friends and relatives laid bunches of flowers with messages of sympathy on a bench beside the scene.

Among the most moving messages was written on behalf of McLoughlin's two infant children. "To Mammy.

We love you and will miss you lots. From Jack and Holly, " read the message.

Another message left from the deceased's sisters read, "To our darling sister, we love you lots. We'll never forget you. Love Shona, Leigh and Edel."

Local man Declan Ryan left his nearby house to go to the shop just after 9.30pm on Friday night when he came across the scene of the stabbing. He explained: "I immediately called 999.

Emma had been stabbed straight into the chest. One local girl knew first aid so she tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to Emma's chest with a towel but it was no good.

"Members of her family were hysterical when they arrived at the scene. A lot of people in the area are angry that it took about 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, even though Drogheda is only about 10 minutes' away, and the gardai took even longer than that to get here.

"When the ambulance did arrive they took her into it and it sat there for about 20 minutes as they tried to revive her but it was too late.

"I think that her injuries were so bad that she was probably dead almost straight after she was stabbed because she had lost so much blood."

There were conflicting accounts about what exactly happened outside the supermarket in Laytown immediately before the incident.

A shop assistant in O'Reilly's supermarket said, "At around 9.30pm last night, Emma McLoughlin got involved in a fight in Pat's Supermarket.

The shopkeeper put them out of the shop where the row continued and Emma was stabbed in the chest.

"It's very sad what has happened here in Laytown and the whole community are shocked. The saddest thing about what happened last night is that a young life has been destroyed."

Another local man, Peter O'Donoghue added: "Everyone in Laytown is really shocked after everything that has happened."

It had been reported previously in the local media that a number of incidents had occurred in Laytown over the past 18 months that may have been connected to Friday's fatal stabbing.

Laytown was reportedly bitterly divided last year as to whether the McLoughlin family should be evicted from their council home for alleged anti-social behaviour.

Some residents in Alverno Heights, where Emer lived, signed a petition requesting that McLoughlins be removed from their house.

At the time, Emma's father, Thomas, acknowledged that a row involving his daughter had caused the problems. He told the Drogheda Independent that the issue had been blown out of all proportion.

McLoughlin was pronounced dead at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on Friday night.

The state pathologist carried out a post mortem on the deceased last night as the Garda Technical Bureau continued to carry out their examination of the scene.

Gardai issued an appeal for witnesses to the fatal stabbing.

Superintendent Gerry Smith of Drogheda garda station said, "We are asking that anybody who was in Laytown between 9 and 9.30pm on Friday night, especially in the area between Pat's Supermarket and Sea-view housing estate, to contact Drogheda garda station on 0419838777."