09DermotColumn“There should be a zero alcohol limit for driving,” said Christina Donnelly. “And that should be the end of the discussion.” In October 2009, Christina Donnelly lost her son Brendan in a horrific car collision outside Castlemartyr, County Cork, in which the life of Brendan’s friend, Lee Salkeld, was also cut tragically short.
“When I hear about road traffic collisions involving one driver who has taken alcohol, drugs or both, as was the case when it came to the man who killed my son, it annoys me beyond all measure to hear people referring to such an incident as an accident. “There’s nothing accidental about such collisions at all – these are preventable road crashes.”
Christina, who described Brendan as “a wonderful son with a heart of gold” grieves every day for him. “He was 24 when he was killed; Lee was 26. They both had the best days of their lives ahead of them.