THE slipway on the pier at Buncrana is now only opened when the Lough Swilly ferry is running in its summer season.
Since last year’s tragedy, Donegal County Council has moved to prevent a repeat of the circumstances which claimed the lives of five members of Louise James's family.
The algae on which Sean McGrotty’s car slid is also regularly cleaned.
For anyone unaware of the events of March 20 last year, Buncrana pier looks like any other – apart from the floral tributes which are left occasionally.
The waters of Lough Swilly around Buncrana are known as the 'Lake of Shadows'.
In the evening, as the sun sets to the west, behind Donegal’s Fanad Peninsula, it throws a magical flame across the lough.
It’s this spectacular scene which draws hundreds of people to the seaside town; and it was this sunset which brought Sean McGrotty and his family last year.
Today people still flock to Buncrana pier. Many are tourists drawn to the beauty of Lough Swilly, but some are people wanting to remember the victims.
And it is a terrible irony that on the weekend of the first anniversary of the Buncrana pier deaths the town has again been in the news for tragic reasons.
The people of the parish are again preparing for a funeral, this time for 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin, who was murdered in Goa in western India.
Last year Ms McLaughlin watched in horror as her town struggled to come to terms with the pier tragedy.
As her neighbours recall that tragedy today, they also mourn her brutal murder.
