Woman struck by bus remains critical

One of two women struck by a bus on Dublin's O'Connell Street remained in a critical condition in hospital yesterday.

The woman in her 60s, a visitor from Birmingham, was joined by her husband, who spent the night at her bedside in St James's Hospital.

The second woman who was involved in the accident is expected to be discharged from the Mater hospital today.

It is thought the women may have stepped in front of the bus as it crossed a paved area of roadway in the vicinity of the Spire.

Dublin City Council said that it would be making no further comment on the matter until the outcome of a Garda investigation was known.

On Wednesday a spokesman for the council said the paved area was controlled by traffic lights, audio signals and tactile metal studs in the ground.

Earlier this year the city council said it would take remedial action after complaints that buses were skidding on newly-paved surfaces elsewhere on the street.

The new paving is part of the O'Connell Street rejuvenation project on which the council has been working for a number of years.

Meanwhile the Garda Press Office said no one was injured in an incident in which a bus went on fire outside Kildare town yesterday morning.

A Garda spokesman said three units of the Kildare Fire Brigade fought the blaze after passengers were evacuated.

The bus was destroyed.