Irish Road Victims Association seeking support of bag pack fundraiser this weekend

A bag packing fundraiser has been organised in Dunnes Stores Mullingar on Friday 10 October and Saturday 11 October in support of the Irish Road Victims Association, IRVA, the national charity for road crash victims, which is based in Mullingar.

The IRVA, was founded in Mullingar in September 2012 following the tragic deaths of local people on local roads. Darren Price, son of IRVA founder and president Donna Price, was just 18 and a member of the Downs GAA club and a Westmeath minor footballer.

Others were Lee Scally, Nigel Costello and Butch Maher, three comrades of RSM Noel O’Callaghan, 4 Field Artillery Regiment, who were based in Columb Barracks Mullingar.

IRVA provides free information and support to families bereaved and seriously injured by road crashes. Services provided include a helpline open 7 days a week. IRVA also holds regular online support group meetings and free bereavement counselling is offered to families.

Legal assistance is also provided to enable families deal with garda investigations, the criminal justice process and the inquest. IRVA works with all road safety stakeholders at home and abroad to highlight the human impact of road crashes, to reduce road dangers, and to improve victim support services and the post crash response.

IRVA gives educational talks to students and in workplaces to advance road safety, and attend road safety conferences and events wherever possible in order to provide a voice for families affected by road deaths and serious injury at home and abroad which includes advocating for their rights.

An annual event is held at Bloomfield House Hotel to mark the UN World Day of Remembrance For Road Traffic Victims, this year on Sunday 16 November at 12 noon. All families bereaved by road crashes are welcome to attend, also the injured, and members of the emergency services.

All IRVA services are provided free of charge and the charity is run entirely by volunteers, all of whom have lost loved ones on the roads. The IRVA guide for families bereaved by road collisions is distributed by An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority to bereaved families nationwide.

IRVA does this work to try to spare other families the utter devastation of such a preventable loss. IRVA couldn’t continue to do this work without support, and we really hope you will get able to help us by contributing to the bag pack, and in so doing help us to save lives and prevent needless injury on the roads.

See www.IRVA.ie.

If you can assist with the bag pack please contact Noel O Callaghan 086 3581634.