‘You think of parents who have seen their children for the last time’

THE houses of the families struck by Monday’s tragedy were easily recognisable in the small community around Navan.

Lines of cars identified the homes of the five young girls who lost their lives, as relatives, friends and neighbours attempted to find words to convey their shock and sympathy over the horrific accident.

Michael Maguire, whose 17-year-old daughter Julieanne was seriously injured in the bus crash, said: “I’ve lived here all my life. It’s unreal.

“We have escaped but you think of the parents who have seen their children for the last time.”

People from the communities of Kentstown, Yellow Furze and Beauparc told of how word of the shocking tragedy had travelled, with calls arriving from concerned relatives in London, Luton, Boston and New York.

“It was world news,” said Patrick Heskin, a middle-aged dairy farmer whose 13-year-old daughter Claire escaped with bumps and bruises.

“My sister rang from Luton, she had seen it on the news, and my cousin’s son rang from Boston, he had heard it on CNN in America.”

Hundreds of students from the four schools devastated by the tragedy poured into St Mary’s Church in Navan to pray for the five girls - Aimee McCabe, 15, Clare McCluskey, 18, Deirdre Scanlon, 17, Sinead Ledwidge, 15, and Lisa Callan, 15.

Sr Mary O’Connor from the Loreto Convent’s trust board said all five girls were close friends.

Most of the girls had lived within two-and-a-half miles of each other and talked and joked on the familiar bus route hundreds of times.

“The feeling of the school is one of shock and devastation, I think there is a quiet atmosphere. It is calm, but I think people are very traumatised really,” she said.

The stories of the five girls which emerged from the local community told of their many interests, with some loving Westlife and others idolising Manchester United captain Roy Keane.

Yellow Furze Primary School principal Thomas Wall said the school’s three former pupils, Aimee, Deirdre and Sinead, were all lovely children. “They were very friendly children. If you met them in town, they would go over to talk to you,” he said.