Longford family's anguish following tragic death of bus driver and ‘lovely gentleman’ Michael Gill

The family of a Longford bus driver who died in a road crash in county Westmeath last week have spoken of how their lives had been turned upside down by the tragedy.

Fifty-five-year-old Michael Gill, from Kenagh, Co Longford passed away last Wednesday after the bus he was driving left the road and collided with a ditch in the townland of Killogeenaghan, Moate, Co Westmeath at around 5.30pm on January 4.

Mr Gill, who had close to two decades of driving experience behind him, had only taken up employment with Bus Éireann barely two months previously.

Speaking ahead of his funeral mass on Monday, the family of the much loved and respected community stalwart told of their heartbreak at Michael's untimely passing.

"We are absolutely devastated by the loss of Michael.

“We would like to express our sincere thanks to the emergency services at the scene who worked tirelessly on Michael, and who were with him in his final moments.

“We as his family very much need privacy at this incredibly difficult time. While people may wish to pay tribute to the wonderful man he was, we ask people who knew Michael to please share their memories with us privately.”

Tributes, meanwhile, have continued to flood in for the father of six in the wake of Wednesday evening’s tragedy.

“He was just well liked by everybody and everything he was involved in," said local Cllr Colm Murray.

"And if there was a passenger who might not have been looking forward to a long journey ahead of them, Michael would always make them feel at ease by putting a smile on their face."

Liam Farrelly, of local family-run bus service provider Farrelly's Coaches, said both he and many of Mr Gill’s former colleagues had been left stunned by the events of the past 72 hours.

"I only rang him last Monday to see how he was getting on and if he wanted to come back," said Mr Farrelly.

"He was 16 years with us and the first driving job he had was with us. He was a great driver, he even drove double deckers for us and went all over the country and on tours to England for us."

"Michael was just a lovely gentleman, a quiet man, inoffensive and even tempered. And because he was such a capable driver, he was never stressed and the passengers loved him.”

The late Michael Gill is survived by his wife wife Mary, sons John, Alan, Kevin and Kieran, daughters Rinoa and Sara, mother-in-law Kathleen, brothers-in-law Gerard, Kieran and Martyn, sister-in-law Deirdre, nephews and nieces Shauna, Darragh, Tara, Darian, Oscar and Harvey, dear cousins, neighbours, good friends and his work colleagues.

Mr Gill's funeral mass took place on Monday at St Dominic's Church, Kenagh followed by cremation to Lakelands Crematorium in Cavan.