Roadworks firm fined €1.2m over breaches that led to death of father and two children in Donegal crash

A roadworks company has been fined more than €1 million after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches linked to a crash in Co Donegal that caused the death of a man and his two children almost six years ago.At Letterkenny Circuit Criminal Court on Friday, Whitemountain Quarries admitted to a failure to manage and conduct public traffic safely through roadworks at Three Trees, Quigley’s Point on August 20th, 2020.Judge Roderick Maguire imposed a fine of €1.2 million for the breaches. At about 10.30pm on the night in question, John and Geraldine Mullan, their 14-year-old son Tomás and six-year-old daughter Amelia were returning to their home in Moville on the Inishowen Peninsula after a day out at a cinema and bowling alley in Derry.READ MOREIt was during Storm Ellen and there was a status yellow weather warning in place with driving conditions described as difficult.The front left tyre of the family’s car dropped from the road on to the unfinished hard shoulder, the court heard. When John Mullan attempted to steer back on to the road, the car aquaplaned on the freshly laid surface and slid across the roadway into Lough Foyle. He and his two children were drowned while Geraldine Mullan suffered significant injuries and was rescued by emergency services.It subsequently emerged that there had been a lack of appropriate temporary traffic management signs and cones to guide vehicles safely through the works.Whitemountain Quarries, of Blackwater Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, pleaded guilty to offences under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.In a victim impact statement, Geraldine Mullan said her life had been devastated by the tragedy. The specialist cancer nurse fought through tears as she told how she finds it difficult to live each and every day since the deaths of the three most important people in her life.“I have difficulty coping with everyday life, navigating the demands without the support and safety I felt with John as my partner and ‘steady rock’,” she said. Going from a family of four to a family of one has been devastating and the emotional and psychological impact has been overwhelming and life-altering, she said.“There are no words that can fully describe the pain of losing my entire immediate family in one moment. My home, once full of life, love and activity, is now an empty shell, devoid of all our magical moments as a family,” she said.“I continue to struggle with memories of that day, and the emotional impact is something I will carry for the rest of my life. Now almost six years later, I still have flashbacks, nightmares, and relive that night over and over. It is like a recurring nightmare/dream that I cannot wake up from and the pain, the heartache, the desolation, the loneliness, the sadness and crippling fear is insurmountable.”Ronan Kennedy, counsel for Whitemountain Quarries, which is now part of the Breedon Group, said he first wanted to pay tribute to Geraldine Mullan’s dignity and strength.He said the incident had cast a long shadow over the company and will do so indefinitely. He said the company had not ran into safety issues previously and prided itself on its record.Kennedy asked the judge to accept the company’s remorse as genuine and to note its high level of co-operation.Health and Safety Authority chief executive Mark Cullen described the incident as “devastating” and said companies carrying out roadworks are obliged to ensure they do not expose members of the public to risks.A spokeswoman for Breedon told The Irish Times the company would not be making any further comment at this time “out of respect for Mrs Mullan”.