Posted online: Nov 12th, 2008

For a local newspaper chronicling the highs and lows of its citizens, there can be no greater pain and difficulty than in reporting the loss of life.
And like so many times on these pages since we first published, it is to report on a terrible tragedy that has occurred following a road accident.
The Cathaoirleach of Ballyshannon Town Council, Cllr P.J. Branley was a man accurately portrayed as a community activist.
His history showed that he held strong Republican principles. Like many others, there followed a long journey of reconciliation which culminated in his election to Ballyshannon Town Council in 2004.
I reported his comments from his first meeting as a councillor and in the subsequent years, PJ accurately and articulately reflected in his down to earth parlance, the needs of his community.
In all my dealings with him, he was genuinely concerned for his fellow citizens, evoking a refreshing frankness. It was something that I admired the most in him. We also shared a love of history.
Another of the deceased was Dessie McNulty from Ballintra. He was a little terrier of a young footballer when I first came across him in De La Salle College in Ballyshannon. He was always getting stuck in, where bigger and braver men feared to thread.
Dessie too had fought and won many battles in subsequent years. His photo in the Donegal Post only a few weeks back, after he helped raise money along with others for Our Lady’s Hospital for sick children was typical of Dessie’s community spirit, as was his involvement with his beloved Naomh Bríd.
As for young Michael O’Sullivan, at 17 years of age, the world was still his oyster. There was great potential for him in the years ahead and his enthusiasm and talent was already evident to see, by those who knew him the best.
He was the youngest of three honourable people, who did not deserve to die, who did not deserve to be taken from their families, who did not deserve to become more statistics on a road fatality list.
Let us remember and honour these lost lives, when we find ourselves behind the wheel.

Michael McHugh, Editor