A PRIEST has complained, at the funeral Mass of a Co Donegal politician who was killed in a weekend car crash, about the absence of speed cameras on roads with a history of fatalities.
Parish priest Fr Cathal Ó Fearraigh told those gathered at the funeral Mass for Ballyshannon town council chairman PJ Branley that at least 15 people died within a few miles of each other on the same wide stretch of the N15 in the past decade.
"Where are the speed cameras that are supposed to be on stretches of road like this, with the history the N15 has?" he asked.
"Every time we go out we have our lives and the lives of other people in our hands."
The priest, who attended the crash scene where Mr Branley and two other men died last Sunday, and administered the Last Rites, said: "It was a horrible scene. I hope I never see the likes again."
Fr Ó Fearraigh recalled that one of the 15 victims was Daniel Kerrigan, Mr Branley's father-in- law, who died after crash six years ago.
His commemoration Mass was celebrated just two hours before Mr Branley's funeral Mass in St Patrick's Church, Ballyshannon.
Mr Branley (58), was chairman of Ballyshannon Town Council and a Sinn Féin candidate for next year's Donegal County Council elections.
The council, and town councils throughout the county, were represented among the 1,500 mourners at the funeral. Among those in attendance were Sinn Féin vice-president Pat Doherty and Stormont Assembly member Gerry Kelly.
Senator Pearse Doherty recalled in a graveside oration that Mr Branley was a former IRA volunteer who served jail terms in Long Kesh and in Portlaoise and who was committed to the peace process in the North.
Mr Doherty said: "He began his own process of unionist outreach and engagement."
Mr Branley, a grandfather and father of six, died on Sunday in hospital two hours after his van was in head-on collision with a car at Ballymagroarty, 5km north of Ballyshannon on the road to Donegal town.
His passenger, Dessie McNulty (40) from Ballintra, and the driver of the car, Michael O'Sullivan (17), from Ballyshannon, died at the scene.
Their funerals take place today.
Mr McNulty, a painter and decorator and also a member of Sinn Féin, will be buried in Ballintra and Mr O'Sullivan, an apprentice mechanic, will be buried in Ballyshannon.