Gardaí are investigating whether the brakes may have failed on a privately-owned bus which crashed into a number of cars while bringing about 40 women to a social outing in Cork city on Wednesday night.
A total of 42 people including former Cork North Central Progressive Democrats TD Máirín Quill and her sister, Ita, and two other motorists were injured when the bus lost control coming down Military Hill on to Wellington Road in Cork.
They were brought by ambulance to Cork University Hospital (CUH) and the Mercy University Hospital for assessment with all but four being discharged on Wednesday night.
Another person injured in the collision was discharged yesterday morning and a HSE South spokeswoman said the remaining three patients, which it is understood to include Ms Quill and her sister, are in a comfortable condition at the CUH.
Meanwhile, gardaí yesterday began an examination of the 17- year-old Volvo bus which was involved in the collision after it was removed from the scene. A Garda PSV inspector carried out a series of tests on the bus to see if the brakes were working properly at the time.
Garda forensic crash investigators also carried out an examination of the scene before Wellington Road was reopened to traffic at 11am yesterday, having remained closed overnight.
The bus had been carrying members of St Finbarr's Ladies Social Club from Togher on Cork's southside to a function at the Ambassador Hotel on Military Hill when it failed to stop and continued to the junction with Wellington Road.
The bus, which is owned by a private operator from Ballinhassig, crashed into a telegraph pole after hitting a number of parked cars and a tree.