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The following is the account of this accident from the website of the Irish Examiner newspaper http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/09/15/ihead.htm

Carnage leaves five dead and two fighting for life
by Evelyn Ring

TWO children are fighting for their lives following yesterday's school mini-bus crash, in Wicklow, in which five people died. This brings to 20 the number of people who have lost their lives on the notorious stretch between Rathnew and Arklow in the past 18 months.

Gardaí arrested the 27-year-old driver of an Northern Ireland-registered articulated lorry involved in the head-on collision with the bus on the N11 in County Wicklow just after 8.15 am. He is due in Wicklow court this morning.

The children were on their way to St Catherine's Special School, in Newcastle, from Arklow town. Those killed were the driver of the bus, Jackie Kavanagh in his 50s, Sharon Sheehan, 23, her teenage sister Fionualla Byrne, Kevin O'Leary and Robert Cullen, all from the Arklow area. Two other passengers, Anthony McDonald, 17, and a child, Jason Reed, were critical last night. Anthony had emergency surgery for head and chest injuries in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, while Jason was in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin suffering from multiple injuries.

The driver was standing in for a colleague.

The collision left the two vehicles locked together, some of the dead and survivors had to be cut free by firemen who said it was the worst accident they had ever witnessed.

The manager of St Catherine's School, Eddie Dunphy said buses travel there every day from all over Wicklow but nothing like this had ever happened before. ''It's difficult to come to terms with what has happened. Staff here had known some of these children all their lives. It's a very black day for us." The accident happened close to an accident black spot, but on a section of road regarded as relatively safe. It is one of the most policed in the country in a bid to curb speeding.