Almost €300,000 has been raised for the family members injured in a head-on crash on the M9 motorway, with a friend saying they face a “long and challenging” recovery.
Alma and Niamh Kinsella, who are aged in their 30s, their younger sister Ella Hendricken (20s) and a seven-year-old boy remain in hospital.
The family from Co Carlow were left seriously injured after their car was struck by a vehicle on the M9 in Co Kildare at about 3am on Sunday.
Five teenagers travelling in the other car, a BMW that was being driven in the wrong direction on the motorway, were killed in the incident.
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Bryan Curley, a friend of Ella Hendricken, organised the fundraiser for the family, said it has been an “incredibly difficult and frightening time for Ella, Niamh, Alma and their family”.
“ I ask that you keep them all in your thoughts and prayers,” he said in a message on GoFundMe.
Almost €300,000 had been raised by Wednesday lunchtime, though the sum was rising rapidly.
More than 7,000 donations had been made.
Alma and Niamh Kinsella are understood to have been travelling in the front of the car.
They remain in a critical condition in Tallaght University Hospital, while Ella Hendricken, who was a rear-seat passenger with her nephew, is being treated for serious injuries in St Vincent’s University Hospital after being transferred there from St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny.
The boy is being treated for serious injuries at the children’s hospital in Crumlin.
All four are from the Carlow area and were making their way to Dublin Airport to attend a family wedding in England when the collision occurred at about 3am on Sunday.
The five teenagers who died in the crash were named as Kamil Pustkowski, Jack Kennedy, Alex McCarthy (all 17), Jeremy O’Brien (18) and Joe “Joey” Carthy (15).
