Driver of lorry charged at Wicklow Garda station with dangerous driving causing death.
The Co Wicklow town of Arklow is today mourning the deaths of three adults and two children killed in a head-on collision between a school mini-bus and a lorry on the main Dublin road.
The accident occurred at 8.15 a.m. as the mini-bus, driven by a relief driver with six passengers, was travelling north from Arklow to St Catherine's special school for the mentally-handicapped at Newcastle Hospital near Newtownmountkennedy. It struck the lorry, which was travelling in the opposite direction, at a bend at Ballinacor, Kilbride, four miles south of Rathnew on the N11.
The driver of the Northern-registered lorry, a 27-year-old man from Armagh, was charged at Wicklow Garda station last night with dangerous driving causing death and will appear in court this morning. He was arrested and questioned after being released from St Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown, where he was treated for shock.
Gardai said the lorry crossed the white line and struck the minibus head-on. The mini-bus was propelled backwards before both vehicles came to rest in a ditch.
The driver of the bus was named locally as Mr Jackie Kavanagh (51), who was married with two children and from Fernhill in Arklow. Also killed in the vehicle were Ms Sharon Sheehan, a professional helper at St Catherine's, who was married and in her mid-20s, and her sister, Ms Finnuala Byrne, a volunteer worker at the school.
The two children who were killed were named as Kevin O'Leary and Robert Cullen. Both were from the Arklow area and were aged between 9 and 12.
Two other boys in the mini-bus were taken to St Columcille's Hospital. One, Jason Hayden Reid (10), was transferred to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, where his condition was described as stable. The other, Anthony McDonald (17), was transferred to Beaumont Hospital, where he was described as critical.
An emergency plan was implemented by St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, when the accident was reported. According to eye-witnesses, the first ambulance from Arklow arrived at the scene within 10 minutes of the accident. Further ambulances came from Wicklow and Loughlins town, while three fire brigade units assisted in cutting two of the children out of the wreckage.
The accident occurred just a few miles from Scratnagh Cross, where a Dublin woman and an Italian tourist lost their lives in a road accident last month. Scratnagh Cross was also the place where Senator Michael Enright, from Wexford, and three other people died in a crash last year.
Both the Garda and Bus Eireann, which runs the school transport scheme for the Department of the Environment, are carrying out investigations into the crash.
A spokesman for Bus Eireann said an initial investigation suggested that all of the children on the bus were wearing special safety harnesses and that the bus was fully in line with safety standards.
Supt Thomas Devitt, of Wicklow Garda station, said it was the worst accident he had come across. He appealed for any witnesses to the accident to come forward.
The President, Mrs McAleese, commended the work of the emergency services and staff at St Columcille's, adding that her "thoughts and prayers" were with the families and friends of the bereaved.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he was deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of life and injury resulting from the crash. Speaking from Beijing, China, where he is on an official visit, he extended his sympathy and that of the Government to the families of the victims.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, said he was "more and more determined that the Government's road safety strategy will be made to work and to work effectively so that the upward trend in road deaths is halted and reversed".