Mums who lost children on A5 welcome upgrade announcement

The announcement from Stormont Ministers that the A5 is set to be upgraded has been welcomed by campaigners - and by those who have lost loved ones on the road.

Kate Corrigan and Marie O'Brien's children both died in separate crashes.

Nathan Corrigan and two of his friends died in a collision on the A5 at Garvaghy near Omagh in December 2021 - he was moments away from making it home. Caoimhe O'Brien was killed in October 2016 between Strabane and Derry.For Kate and Marie - life stopped in that moment and has never been the same since.

Marie said: "You really can't describe the pain and the suffering and waiting for her to walk in the door... and as I was saying to Kate earlier, now after seven and a half years I don't expect her to walk in the door but it doesn't make me miss her any less."

Kate said: "It does leave you with trauma and I attend therapy and get counselling and that has helped me deal with that. That shock and that trauma replays itself over and over in your mind."The A5 western transport corridor was signed off by the Assembly in 2007. Since then more than 50 people have died on the road.It has taken nearly two decades to get here but today the Northern Ireland Executive has agreed to move ahead with a £1.2billion dual carriageway scheme in what will be the biggest infrastructure project ever in Northern Ireland - stretching for 58 miles from Auchnacloy in Co Tyrone to Newbuildings outside Londonderry.From campaigns to public inquires this is a day both mums have waited for...Kate added: "It is very bittersweet, whereas we welcome it and it is a very positive step forward, it has just come a little bit too late for ourselves.

"Unfortunately, if the upgrade had of went ahead in the years prior to Nathan's accident, the likelihood is that the HGV involved in his accident would have been on the dual carriageway so therefore the likelihood is that it would never have happened."

The proposed upgrade has been delayed because of money and legal challenges by those against it. Marie added: "I am on that road every day and the number of accidents... it's not fit for purpose, there's too much traffic on it."

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