Firms face Navan bus crash deaths trial

Three firms will stand trial today in relation to the Navan bus crash which claimed the lives of five young schoolgirls.

On May 23, 2005 a Bus Éireann coach was bringing dozens of pupils home to rural parts of Co Meath when it overturned on a stretch of road near Kentstown, Co Meath.

The three companies standing trial at Trim Circuit Court are Bus Éireann and Keltank Limited, Balbriggan, Co Dublin which serviced the vehicle and inspection firm McArdles Test Centre Ltd, Dundalk.

All are facing separate charges relating to the anti-lock brakes on the bus with Bus Éireann facing four charges.

A jury of local people will be asked to decide which, if any, of the companies are responsible for the failure of the ABS braking system.

Roadworks were being completed at the time on the stretch of road near where the bus crashed by contractors employed by Meath County Council.

The council has already pleaded guilty to having no project supervisor in place and to not having a health and safety plan.

Initially the council pleaded not guilty but later altered that plea and will be sentenced at the end of the trial.

No individuals have been charged over the accident.

Five teenage girls died in the crash: Claire McCluskey, 18; Deirdre Scanlon, 17; Lisa Callan, 15; Aimee McCabe, 15 and Sinead Ledwidge, 15.

They were students of St Michael’s Loreto Convent in Navan and Beaufort College, Navan. Forty-six schoolchildren were injured in the incident.

The bus had no seat belts and was operating the so-called two-for-three seating arrangement where three youngsters could share a seat designed for two adults.

All 3,000 buses in the school transport system have since been fitted with seat belts.

The trial is expected to last three to four weeks but extra time has been allocated at the Trim courthouse if it is needed.

Eighty witnesses including many professionals involved in road safety are expected to be called.

The Books of Evidence in the case run to 35 volumes.