Person of the Year award for bus crash student

A CO Meath student who survived the Navan bus crash, which killed her sister, has been named as the Young Irish Person of the Year.

Anita McCluskey, aged 14, was one of the main recipients at the 32nd annual People of the Year Awards held at Citywest, on Saturday night.

Anita, from Beauparc, Navan, Co Meath, was honoured for the bereavement counselling group called Seedlings, which she established with fellow students after the accident that claimed the lives of her sister Claire and four other schoolgirls, at Kentstown, in May 2005.

She was also responsible for launching a road safety awareness campaign selling keyrings in memory of the five victims.

Anita was presented with the award in recognition of her “strength and courage in the face of appalling personal tragedy”.

The awards ceremony was presented by broadcaster Gay Byrne and attended by several hundred guests including political leaders Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte, as well as former Taoisigh Garret Fitzgerald and Albert Reynolds.

An Irish Person of the Year Award was also, somewhat unusually, awarded to the Munster rugby team — for finally fulfilling their long-held ambition of European Cup glory by beating Biarritz in the final in Cardiff earlier this year.

The prize was collected by Ronan O’Gara, Anthony Foley, Donncha O’Callaghan and Alan Quinlan.

The Munster squad won the award for what the judging panel described as “their immense skill, determination and sheer will to win”.

The judges consisted of editors from the national and provincial press and broadcasters, who chose the winners from nominations made by members of the public.

Comic Tommy Tiernan received a special one-off award as this year’s Funniest Irish Person Alive, in recognition of his international success.

The controversial comedian courted trouble by comparing the guest of honour, PD and soon-to-be ex leader Mary Harney, with Adolf Hitler.

However, Tiernan quickly assured the large crowd that Irish audiences knew when comedians were not being serious.

Kerry woman Mags Riordan was named International Person of the Year, in recognition of her overcoming the deaths of three of her five children by building a clinic in Malawi, where her son Billy died in a drowning accident in 1999.

Other winners included well-known comedian, James Nesbitt, Galway GAA star Alan Kerins — who set up a project to feed 700 families in an AIDS-ravaged province of Zambia — and Nigerian immigrant Chinedu Onyejelem, who was awarded for his role in promoting multiculturalism in Ireland.