Major event for World Day of Remembrance on Sunday
President Michael D Higgins host a special reception at Áras an Uachtaráin to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, tomorrow, Friday 17 November, at 2pm.
The World Day of Remembrance takes place on the third Sunday of November each year.
Those in attendance will include approximately 100 family members of people who have lost their lives on our roads, as well as a number of people who have sustained serious injuries.
Also in attendance will be representatives of a number of organisations working and campaigning to prevent road traffic accidents, as well as those who work to assist those impacted, including: the Road Safety Authority (RSA), the Irish Road Victims Association (IRVA), Blood Bikes, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Transport, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, paramedics, the Dublin Fire Service, the National Rehabilitation Centre, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, and Father Michael Toomey, a chaplain in CBS High School in Clonmel who presided at the funerals of those killed in the tragic accident in the town on Leaving Cert results night in August.
Westmeath event
Locally, the IRVA host an event on Sunday, November 19, from 1pm at Bloomfield House Hotel.
The day includes the ‘Walk in Memory’ to the lake shore, led by a lone piper playing ‘Lord Lovett’s Lament’. The walk route passes the Memorial Tree and engraved plaque. At the lake those present will float red roses on the water and doves will be released.
Back in the function room at the hotel, event MC Noel O’Callaghan will oversee proceedings as guests place photos and candles on the Remembrance Table; there will be further song recitations and a formal acknowledgement of the work of the emergency services.
All victims lost and injured to road crashes will be remembered.
Donna Price, founder of the IRVA, will address the gathering on road safety and remind the audience about the IRVA Guide for Families Bereaved by Road Collisions. Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman will speak on behalf of Roads Policing Corps.
The event will conclude with a candle ceremony as symbols of hope and solidarity.