School’s poignant tribute in call for completion of A5

A TEENAGER born on the day that the dual-carriageway for the A5 was announced in 2007 has handed in a petition signed by more than 1000 students and staff at St Ciaran’s College in Ballygawley.

Year 12 pupil, Odhran O’Hanlon presented petition to the Chairman of the Enough is Enough Campaign, Niall McKenna and local political representatives.

Students held crosses as a reminder of those who have been killed on the road since July 17, 2007.

St Ciaran’s College estimates that 2000 people travel to and from the school on the A5 on any given day. It says that the history of St Ciaran’s is invariably linked with the A4 and the A5.

In front of Odhran as he presented the petition were three awards presented at the school’s annual prizegiving. The McGeary Cup, The Kieran O’Hagan Cup and the Darragh Horisk Cup are dedicated to pupils who have lost their lives on both the A4 and the A5.

Every student at the school took part in the demonstration calling for the £1 billion route between Aughnacloy and Newbuildings to be completed.

St Ciaran’s, which is situated just off the A5, has been served by the A4 and the A5. The school lost Paul and Helen Hughes, Martin McGeoghegan, Kieran O’Hagan, Ciaran and Michael McGeary, Nicola Murray and Rachel Crean as a result of road traffic collisions on the A4.

“The A5 has taken its toll again on the St Ciaran’s community. Pupils, parents and grandparents, taken before their time. We think of Darragh Horisk, Darren McAnenly, Leo McKeever, Peter Finnegan, Nathan Corrigan and Kathleen McGarvey, alongside many others who have been injured or impacted by this treacherous route, the school said.

“However, to list names and quote statistics does not do justice to the loss that is felt by families. Regardless of first anniversaries or 31st anniversari, the impact of of grief remains. This is compounded by the fact that the carnage continues along the A5, and the road remains an open wound for all impacted.

“To lose a family member has a catastrophic effect – on a family, a class, a year group and a school community,” St Ciaran’s said in a statement.