WATCH: 'One small cone and she'd be with us,' parents of Bronagh English seek answers

The parents of 18-year-old Bronagh English, who lost her life in a road accident near Kilmoyler last April, say they will be forever tormented by the belief that their daughter should be alive today.

They are convinced Bronagh’s death was preventable, and they sat down with Eamon Lacey from The Nationalist to chat about Bronagh and that fateful night. 

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Had the road been properly maintained, they argue, and had clear warning signs been in place to alert motorists to the hazards of the notorious black spot, their daughter’s car would not have plunged from the bridge that night.

The fatal crash occurred shortly after 10pm on Thursday, April 24, as Bronagh was returning home alone, having dropped a friend off.

The family say they are now on a mission to understand how such a stretch of road could have been left in what they describe as a dangerous and neglected condition despite a record of previous accidents.

An independent engineer’s report compiled after the tragedy identified seven critical safety failings at Kilmoyler Bridge.

“If any one of those seven had been solved by Tipperary County Council, our daughter would be with us,” said her father, Michael English.

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“It would have been a minor incident; she could have had a broken leg or something. One cone sitting on the broken wall would indicate it was a 90-degree turn and show you had to slow down. We need to understand how it happened, how it got left for so long.”

“There have been multiple accidents on that stretch of road; it is a black spot,” he said, his voice tightening. “How can this exist in this day and age? This is Third World stuff.”

The family’s search for answers has since become both forensic and personal. Michael and his wife, Danielle, want to know whether local representatives had ever raised concerns about the bridge after earlier collisions and, if so, what action—if any—was taken.

They are asking why no signs warned of a sharp 90-degree bend, why there was no yield junction sign, and why a 60km/h speed limit remained in place when, they believe, it should have been halved. Above all, they want to know why a broken bridge wall—a clear and present danger—had not been repaired.

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“To compound matters, there was no wall on the bridge,” Michael said. “There was a step on the bridge, which effectively acted as a ramp that ramped her into the river. Bronagh had no assistance when she came to that right turn, and for the previous kilometre there was no signage in the approach to the bridge. The bridge was invisible to her.”

While acknowledging their grief, Michael insisted the issue transcends personal tragedy. “There are just far too many faults on this bridge. I have never seen anything like it. How can this exist in 2025 in a country like Ireland? It is fine saying these are lesser roads, but these things are not acceptable at any level.”

He rejected any suggestion that the rural nature of the road justified the neglect. “This excuse about it being a minor road is not acceptable to me and Danielle under any circumstances. A minor road or not, these things should not be left like that.”

Michael explained that Bronagh, who had never driven that route before, was not speeding, according to nearby CCTV footage. It was raining that night and visibility was poor.

“She had a full licence and was a very competent driver,” he said. “We have a small farm at home, and she learned a lot there. Then we took her out to instructors; she was driving a good car that was only two and a half years old.”

Tests later confirmed there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in her system.

“Why had the county council neglected this?” Michael asked. “They started fixing it and tidying it up a few weeks after the accident. Why was this left behind, and how did it happen to Bronagh? One small cone and she is with us today, and that is a little too much for us to cope with.”

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