Meath County Council has pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the school bus crash near Navan that claimed the lives of five schoolgirls in May 2005. At Trim Circuit Court yesterday its director of services for infrastructure Eugene Cummins entered the pleas on behalf of the local authority.
At the time of the accident at Kentstown, Navan on May 23rd, 2005, contractors for the council had been carrying out road works. The council was prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions following an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority.
When the case was called and the charges were read out, Mr Cummins replied "on behalf of Meath County Council, I plead guilty".
On its behalf Mr Cummins admitted failing to appoint a project supervisor for the construction stage of the roadworks project. He also pleaded guilty on its behalf to failing to draw up a health and safety plan.
State Prosecutor Jonathan Kilfeather told Judge Michael O'Shea that the prosecution against the council and against Bus Éireann-Irish Bus and Keltank Limited were related.
He said a fourth party is before the District Court in Louth and has yet to be returned for trial to the Circuit Court. The State was anxious that they be dealt with together.
Mr Kilfeather asked that the case be adjourned until the next sitting of the court and that no evidence in relation to Meath council be heard, but that it be listed for the next sessions.
The adjournment was agreed to by legal representatives for the other companies and Judge Michael O'Shea said it was appropriate that all parties be together in the action. He adjourned all matters to the sittings of the Trim Circuit Court next January.
Claire McCluskey (18), Deirdre Scanlon (17), Lisa Callan (15), Aimee McCabe (15) and Sinéad Ledwidge (15) were killed when the bus taking them home from school overturned on the R153 from Navan to Kentstown.
They were students of St Michael's Loreto Convent in Navan and Beaufort College, Navan. Some 46 schoolchildren were also injured in the incident.
The bus had no seatbelts and was operating the so-called "two-for-three" seating arrangement under which three children share two adult seats.
Following the incident, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin announced plans to ensure that the estimated 138,000 students who use the school transport system funded by the department would have their own seat and seatbelts by December this year.