There will be no words of consolation that can even come close to comforting the parents, relatives and friends of the schoolgirls who died in the accident yesterday as they travelled home from school. This is a profoundly poignant tragedy and the families concerned will need sympathy and compassion in great measure as they face, in the days ahead, the further trauma of services and funerals.
The accident happened shortly after 4pm when the schoolbus in which some 50 children were travelling overturned on the road which links Navan to Kentstown. At the time of writing, gardaí have confirmed that five children died as a result of injuries received and of the children taken to hospital at least six are reported to be seriously injured. Throughout the State today people will pray that none of the injured adds to the death toll and that all of them make a speedy and full recovery.
To their credit, the emergency services acted effectively and decisively. Ambulances, fire tenders, helicopters and a large crane were on the scene quickly. The children needing immediate hospital attention were transported without delay to Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda and Navan hospital while other children were treated at the scene. Meath County Council opened an incident room in Navan and emergency telephone numbers were broadcast on all media so that anxious families could ascertain the situation immediately.
Today, as it happens, a simulated train crash accident with supposed fatalities was to be staged in Maynooth to gauge the effectiveness of the emergency service response. It has now been cancelled. Instead, the effectiveness of the response has been demonstrated in tragic, never-to-be-forgotten circumstances.
The investigation into the accident will have to be carried out with the utmost thoroughness and full details of its findings shared with the families and the public. It occurred, according to reports, on a straight stretch of the road where roadworks were taking place. Yet again, it raises the fundamental issue of school buses - and indeed other buses which might travel at speed - not having seatbelts fitted. Seatbelts cannot prevent accidents but they have a proven value in minimising casualties. When will the road death toll ever be tackled? Last year there were 379 such deaths in this State, more than one per day. Despite great concern being expressed, measures taken to tackle the problem are ineffective.
Today, the bereaved must come to terms with grief of nightmare proportions. Counselling will be provided not just for the relatives and friends of the deceased but for the survivors and their classmates in St Patrick's Classical School, Beaufort College, Mercy Convent and Loreto Convent. There is no benign time for a tragedy but coming, as it does, on the eve of school and State examinations makes it all the more difficult for the children, their families and their friends.