Hundreds of people gathered this evening for the removal of Claire McCluskey (18), one of the five school girls who died in Monday's bus crash near Navan, Co Meath.
From top: Lisa Callan, Aimee McCabe, Claire McCluskey and Deirdre Scanlon, all pupils of St Michael's Loreto Convent, and Sinéad Ledwidge, a pupil of Beaufort College.
Tomorrow the townlands of Beauparc, Rosnaree and Yellow Furze will bury Claire and four other students - Deirdre Scanlon (17), Lisa Callan (15) and Sinéad Ledwidge (15), who will also be removed to churches this morning. Many businesses in the town will close as the funerals take place. Aimee McCabe (15) will be buried tomorrow.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen visited the site of the crash this evening as a gathering row over the fitting of seatbelts in buses, and the quality of the road surfaces, dominated the media.
Speaking on RTE's Six Onenews Mr Cullen said while the safety record on school buses had been impeccable and the school bus fleet a lot younger in recent years, lessons must be learned.
"There are clearly issues in all of this that arise out of this appalling tragedy that we have to look at. To rush to judgement is probably the wrong thing to do. There are technical issues that need to be resolved," he said.
The Taoiseach told the Dáil this morning that the Government would wait for the outcome of three separate investigations into the bus crash before approving any funds allocation for a new fleet of buses. A Department of Education spokeswoman said the Government was working towards a situation where seatbeats would be installed.
Earlier the National Parents Council called on parents to "take a stand" on the issue of seatbelts in buses. No belts were fitted to the bus that crashed on Monday.
NPC President, Eleanor Petrie, said her organisation had been campaigning to government on the issue of school bus safety since 1997.
"For years we have been waiting for this accident to happen," she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland. "I feel myself, as a person who has campaigned and asked and begged for the Department of Education to put money into school transport to stop this happening, that unless we take action now we could be having this same conversation in a week's time, in two weeks, or in a month or in a year.
"I feel that if we don't make this stand we will have blood on our hands ... I don't want parents to come to me next 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'".
However, the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said it wasn't possible to fit every school bus with seatbelts by September next. She pointed out that belts were only one aspect of school transport safety.
"Emotional reactions are obviously something that we all have to contend with this week, particularly in light of this tragedy. The reality is there are nearly 140,000 children being transported every day safely on school buses," she said.
"There has been a very, very good safety record notwithstanding this terrible tragedy. It would be important that people not have reactions that might not even be practical."
There was also criticism of the Government for allegedly failing to heed warnings about the danger of temporary road surfaces. This is one of the aspects being examined in the investigations and the road where the crash occurred was wet and had recently been resurfaced.
Independent TD Dr Jerry Cowley said he had raised the issue of hazardous temporary road surfaces with the Ivor Callely, the Minister of State with responsibility for Transport in the Dail on February 24 thfollowing a number of serious crashes.
Dr Cowley said he was "disappointed" with the Minister's response to date on the matter. Mr Callely said the issues were being actively being addressed.
An examination of the state of the tarmac at the scene of the crash, which was resurfaced shortly before the accident, is expected to form a part of the investigation.
Witnesses and schoolchildren yesterday said the bus appeared to skid on the wet road for several metres. Bernie O'Byrne, whose 13-year-old son Ruairí was on the bus, said: "The bend has only been newly done. There was no grip on the road at all. I go that way a lot, it had been lashing rain."
Some reports suggest the bus turned over and spun 180 degrees while on its side before colliding with an oncoming vehicle and coming to rest.
Full details of the funeral arrangements have been posted on the website of the Diocese of Meath, where a book of condolence was also opened.
The five victims, all from Navan, were named as 15-year-old Lisa Callan from Newton, Beauparc; 18-year-old Claire McCluskey from Rathdrinagh, Beauparc; 15-year-old Amy McCabe from Hayestown; 17-year-old Deirdre Scanlon from Yellow Furze, Beauparc; and 15-year-old Sinead Ledwidge from Senchalstown.
Four students and the female driver of one of the cars remain in hospital in Navan and Drogheda in a stable condition. Three other students were discharged today.
Three investigations into the crash are underway. Bus Éireann has appointed former Assistant Garda Commissioner Jim McHugh to chair its inquiry. The gardaí were seeking to interview the drivers of the three cars vehicles involved in the crash. Gardaí have already begun interviews with children who were on the bus.
During an emergency Dáil debate, the Minister of State for Education, Síle de Valera, who has responsibility for school bus services, defended the safety record of the bus fleet.
More than 138,000 children are carried to school every day by the fleet, which travels 40 million miles annually. "It is a massive transport operation," she said.