The report of a Bus Éireann inquiry into a crash which resulted in the deaths of five schoolgirls has been withheld from the families concerned, at the request of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), writes Tim O'Brien
The request from the DPP was received by the board of Bus Éireann yesterday afternoon, just hours before this morning's deadline for the delivery of the report to the families of those killed and injured in the bus crash.
The five schoolgirls were killed and others injured, some seriously, when the bus they were taking home from school skidded at the site of road works on the Kentstown to Navan road, in Co Meath, on May 23rd last.
Bus Éireann, which held a special board meeting yesterday to get a final briefing on the report from the inquiry board, had notified the DPP that it intended to release the report this morning.
It is understood the DPP advised the board that any such release may have implications for any proceedings which might occur as a result of two separate inquiries into the fatal crash.
Those inquiries were held by the Health and Safety Authority and the Garda Síochána.
It is understood that the inquiry team took up to 30 statements from other drivers who had travelled on the Navan to Kentstown road on the day of the accident. A considerable portion of the report on the crash is understood to dwell on road signage at the time.
Another section dwells on the road surface and weather conditions.
The CIÉ group, of which Bus Éireann is a member, last night confirmed that the report would not be issued as a result of the request from the DPP.
This is the second time such a report has been withheld at the request of the DPP and was not unexpected. The previous occasion was when the DPP requested the Dublin Bus report on the Wellington Quay accident be withheld to prevent interference with proceedings later taken by the DPP.
Neither CIÉ nor Bus Éireann would comment on the contents of the report yesterday but sources told The Irish Times that "no one cause had really been identified".
There has been speculation that the anti-lock brakes on the bus had been disabled but this was not confirmed last night.