February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The accident, which occurred on the road between Navan and Kentstown shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon, also left 26 children in the hospital, six in serious, but stable condition.
Garda officers, officials from the Health and Safety Authority and investigators from the national transport company CIE converged on the scene of the accident Tuesday morning.
It was announced that the CIE investigation will be headed up by former Garda assistant commissioner Jim McHugh.
Two other inquiries by the Garda and the Health and Safety Authority are also being held.
The bus was carrying 51 children from four schools in the surrounding area when it was involved in a collision with two other cars near the site of temporary traffic lights before ending up on its side. The road was also under-going resurfacing work.
Fourteen ambulances and five units of the fire brigade were involved in the rescue operation, which lasted for several hours.
Medical personnel were also taken to the scene in four Irish Air Corps helicopters. The injured were treated at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, and Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan.
Garda said the site could possibly become a crime scene.
The five girls killed were officially named on Tuesday morning as 15-year-old Lisa Callan from Newton, Beauparc; 18-year-old Claire McCluskey from Rathdrinagh, Beauparc; 15-year-old Amy McCabe from Hayestown; 17-year-old Deirdre Scanlon from Yellow Furze, Beauparc; and 15-year-old Sinead Ledwidge from Senchalstown. All the towns are located near Navan.
Just before the crash, the bus had collected students from four local schools — St Michael’s Loreto Convent; St Joseph’s Mercy Convent; St Patrick’s Classical School and Beaufort College in Navan.
At the time of writing, the Garda were planning to interview the driver of the bus, but it was unclear whether he was fit for questioning yesterday evening.
Bus Eireann has meanwhile been criticized after it was revealed that the bus was not fitted with seatbelts. The company’s board met after questions were raised about whether all such buses should be equipped with seat restraints.
Fine Gael’s transport spokesman Denis Naughten said the seat-belt issue would need to be addressed, while Minister for Defense Willie O’Dea said the government would await the results of the investigation into the crash.
“An awful lot of taxpayers’ money has been spent on modernizing the school bus fleet. In an ideal world, yes, there should be seat belts on every bus,” said O’Dea.
A Bus Eireann spokeswoman confirmed that the bus had not been fitted with seatbelts, but said, “It is Bus