THE tragic deaths of two classmates while on holiday in Greece last summer has inspired a new Government safety warning campaign for Leaving Cert students heading abroad this summer after exams.
Last year, Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall from St Michael’s College in Dublin died just hours apart in separate incidents while on a Leaving Cert holiday in the Greek island of Ios.
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Andrew is believed to have died after suffering a fall while taking a shortcut back to his accommodation. His classmate Max died after collapsing from a heart condition.
The two 18-year-olds’ deaths are the inspiration behind a new Travel Wise campaign that the Government launched today as part of their annual Be Summer Ready call.
Tanaiste Micheal Martin said he was impacted by the two teenagers’ deaths last summer and asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to put a specific focus on an information campaign for young people travelling on post exam holidays.
He said: “I was very taken by those last year and in previous years and I asked the Department of Foreign Affairs at a number of management meetings and I proposed that we should do something very specific this year to alert young people to the risks.
“We want people to be happy.
“We want people to create great memories but we are aware in Foreign Affairs through our consular support service that terrible tragedies occur and that is the basis of our more focused campaign this year on younger people who after the Leaving Certificate exams will be travelled abroad.”
The Tanaiste revealed that Ireland is opening a new consulate office in Malaga in Spain specifically due to the number of consular cases that have arisen in the holiday hotspot.
In total, the Department of Foreign Affairs dealt with more than 1,700 incidents involving Irish people who needed help abroad last year.
He said: “Traumatic cases come across and I want to pay tribute to the staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs both at home where there is an essential team here that deal with consular affairs and the people who work in embassies.
“So we’re endeavouring to try to reduce that and create an awareness around that and encourage people to look out for each other when they are travelling together as a group and take very basic precautions.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs Travel Wise campaign urges young people to take our travel insurance before they go on holiday and check the country specific advice for the locations they are travelling to on Department of Foreign Affairs website Ireland.ie.
