School bus seatbelt demand 'impossible'

Fitting seatbelts on all school buses by September is impossible, Education Minister Mary Hanafin said today.

Ms Hanafin was responding to a warning by the National Parents Council (NPC) of a boycott on vehicles that do not have the safety features at the start of the next school year.

NPC president Eleanor Petrie said today: “If we don’t make this stand, we will have blood on our hands. We have to stand up now.”

Five teenage girls were killed and 46 injured in the worst school vehicle crash in Irish history near Navan, Co Meath, on Monday.

The horrific incident occurred when the bus – which was not fitted with seatbelts – went into a spin on a narrow road and overturned.

Three investigations are being carried out into the crash and gardai are expected to interview the driver of the vehicle today.

Ms Hanafin said she could understand the concerns of parents but it was impossible to put seatbelts on each of the 3,000 buses that ferry 38,000 Irish schoolchildren every day.

“Unfortunately, asking that all buses have seatbelts by September is not even possible. Seatbelts are not the answer to all of the issues in school transport.”

But Ms Petrie, who said the NPC began campaigning for seatbelts in 1997, said: “I don’t want a parent to come to me in October and say ’you said that we shouldn’t put our children on the buses until there were seatbelts, but I did and my child is dead now’.

“This was an avoidable accident and for years we have been waiting for it to happen.

“Unless we take action now, we could be having the same conversation in a week, or a month or a year.”

Ms Hanafin said every recommendation from the investigations by Bus Eireann and the Health and Safety Authority into the tragedy will be fully implemented.

Funerals for four of the five victims are due to be held on Thursday as the town of Navan struggles to come to terms with the scale of the tragedy.

Two teenagers remain in a stable condition in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, and five teenagers and a woman are in a stable condition in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.

Pupils from St Michael’s Loreto Convent attending a memorial mass yesterday, huddled in groups to mourn the deaths of their four teenage schoolfriends as all classes were cancelled.

The girls who died who studied at the convent, all from Navan, were: Amy McCabe, 15, of Hayestown; Deirdre Scanlon, 17, from Yellow Furze, Beauparc; Claire McCluskey, 18, from Rathdrinagh, Beauparc; and Lisa Callan, 15, from Newtown, Beauparc.

The fifth girl who died was Sinead Ledwidge, 15, from Senchalstown, Navan, who was a pupil at nearby Beaufort College.

Expressions of sympathy were read out by party leaders in the Dail parliament last night and President Mary McAleese said she was “shocked and overwhelmed with grief” at the accident.

Speaking from the US, where she is on an official visit, Mrs McAleese promised to visit the families of the dead girls when she returns home.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair also sent his sympathies to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Mr Blair described the incident as “horrific” and paid tribute to the “truly remarkable” dignity of the families of the dead girls.

He wrote: “I would just like to extend my sympathy to all those who have been affected by the horrific bus crash in County Meath.

“The death of anyone in such circumstances is a tragedy, but all the more so when the dead and injured are so young.

“The impact on the families, the schools and the local community can only be imagined, but the dignified way in which they have borne their grief has been truly remarkable.”

Church leaders called for prayers for all those killed and bereaved.

Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames sent a message of sympathy to the Catholic Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith, who said the area had been devastated by the accident.