Bus Éireann faces charges over school bus crash

BUS ÉIREANN will face charges as a result of the fatal Navan bus crash which claimed the lives of five schoolgirls in Co Meath earlier this year.

Gardaí have said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has instructed them to bring summary charges against the owners of the bus. The driver will not be prosecuted.

Bus Éireann will be asked to answer summary charges at Navan District Court level on a date which has yet to be decided.

More serious charges are still being considered by the DPP and a comprehensive Health and Safety Authority investigation is due to conclude shortly. This latest development comes three weeks after it emerged that the first report into last May’s tragic crash will not be published on the instruction of the DPP. The probe by an independent board of inquiry into the May 23 crash was conducted on behalf of Bus Éireann.

Amy McCabe, Deirdre Scanlon, Claire McCluskey and Lisa Callan, all students of St Michael’s Loreto Convent, and Sinead Ledwidge of Beaufort College, died in the accident on the Navan to Kentstown Road as the bus was carrying pupils home from four schools in Navan. Forty-six people were injured. The bus was not fitted with seat belts.

Late last month, Bus Éireann received a letter from the DPP saying publishing the accident report or sending copies to the bereaved families could be prejudicial to any potential court case associated with the crash.

Bus Éireann intended to publish the report towards the end of October.

The gardaí, Bus Éireann and the Health and Safety Authority had launched investigations into the crash, which happened near temporary traffic lights on a road that was recently resurfaced.

In the immediate wake of the crash the Government pledged an extra €36.5 million to ensure the 138,000 students who use school bus transport would have seat belts.

The Bus Éireann inquiry analysed more than 30 statements from other drivers who had travelled on the Navan to Kentstown road on the day of the accident. The study also investigated the effectiveness, or otherwise, of road signage, road surface and road conditions at the time.

This was the second time such a report was withheld at the request of the DPP. The earlier occasion was when the DPP requested the Dublin Bus report on the Wellington Quay accident be withheld to prevent interference with proceedings later taken by the DPP.