FAMILY'S STATEMENT:THE FAMILY of Ciarán Sweeney, one of eight victims of Sunday night's crash in the Inishowen Peninsula, say they do not blame the driver of the car in which their son was travelling, for his death.
Eamonn Sweeney and his wife Claire stood on the altar at their son’s funeral in St Mary’s, Clonmany, yesterday, and emphasised that they and their children did not blame driver Shaun Kelly, whose sister Catherine Anne was going out with their son.
“Claire, Rory, Owen, Orla and myself want it to be perfectly clear that we do not hold [responsible] or blame Shaun or anyone else in any way for the loss of our beautiful son and brother,” Mr Sweeney said. “The Kelly family will always be welcomed into our home with open arms.”
Mr Kelly was the driver of a black Passat car which collided with a red Corolla driven by Hugh Friel (66) on Sunday night after clipping another car moments earlier. All seven passengers in the Passat and the driver of the Corolla died at the scene.
Mr Kelly was the only survivor. His condition remained unchanged yesterday. He is described as “critical but stable” and remains in the intensive care unit of Letterkenny General Hospital.
The last funeral, that of James McEleney from Minaduff, whose home place is located a couple of hundred yards from the crash scene, is to take place this morning at St Mary’s.
Family members of the victims are to be interviewed in coming days. Supt Kevin English said yesterday that the investigation was very much ongoing.
“We are interviewing witnesses still and trying to establish the movements of the deceased and the driver of the car.”
He said more witnesses had come forward as a result of Garda appeals in recent days and he again thanked the public for their co-operation in the investigation.
Supt English said that comments made by the coroner for northeast Donegal, Dr John Madden, who said he had not been stopped at a Garda checkpoint since 2008, were personal experience and were not borne out by statistics which pointed to an increase in checkpoints.
“Road policing is one of the core objectives here,” he said, adding that the Garda was just one of a number of agencies which were committed to improving road safety through educational and other initiatives.
He said a dedicated traffic unit had recently been transferred from Burnfoot to Buncrana to ensure the optimal strategic deployment of the unit.
Dr Madden had said that more gardaí needed to be deployed to road traffic duties in order to curtail road deaths.
“The last time I was stopped was in December 2008,” he said. “I am not blaming gardaí for that situation but their political masters are responsible for providing a proper police road traffic policy.
“At the moment, the expectation here is that people will not get caught for road traffic offences.”