A 15-year-old student died in the crash

Dozens of other pupils were injured when their bus overturned on the road from Clara to Rahan in County Offaly just after 0800 BST on Tuesday.

Ten of the 26 school children on board were seriously injured and are being treated in hospitals in Tullamore and Mullingar.

Their conditions have been described as "not life threatening".

The single decker bus was carrying the pupils to Killina Presentation Secondary School.

Plan

An emergency plan was put into operation and ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals.

The Republic of Ireland's education minister, Mary Hanafin, offered her thoughts and prayers to the families of the dead teenager and to those who had been injured.

Olwyn Enright, education spokeswoman for Fine Gael said her thoughts and prayers were also with the families.

"A road accident of such a serious nature, involving children on their way to school, is particularly tragic," she said.

It is the second serious school bus crash in the Republic of Ireland in a year.

Last May, five girls died in County Meath when a bus overturned.