Bad week leaves 12 dead on roads

It has been a disastrous few days for road accidents in the Republic, with 12 people dead in the last week.

Nine died in eight separate road accidents from early on Saturday to Monday morning.

By comparison, there were no deaths on the roads in Northern Ireland over the weekend.

Since the Government's Road to Safety Strategy was begun in 1998, the number of deaths in the Republic for the first two months of the year has actually risen, from 63 in 1998 to 67 so far this year.

The final figure for the first two months of this year is unlikely to be a record, however, as 73 people were killed in the first two months of 2000.

The weekend tragedies began with the death of a pedestrian, Ms Blathnaid Cadwell, at 8.30 a.m. last Saturday.

Ms Cadwell was killed when she was struck by a car at Laurel Road in the Dundrum-Churchtown area of south Co Dublin.

A man was interviewed by gardaí following the death and a file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

On Saturday at about 1.30 p.m. a man died following a collision between a van and a dumper truck at Cairns Hill, Co Donegal.

Mr Patrick Sweeney, who was 29, was driving the van at the time. He was from Ballintogher, Co Sligo.

In the early hours of Sunday morning a 32-year-old pedestrian died in Drogheda, Co Louth, after an accident with a mini-bus.

He Mr Kieran McCann, of Beleeks, Newry, Co Down.

The accident happened at Killinear, about one mile north of Drogheda.

On Sunday morning at about 7.55 a.m. the body of Mr David Coyle, also aged 32, was found in a car which had left the road at Skeheenarinky, near Cahir, Co Tipperary. No other car appeared to have been involved, and it is thought Mr Doyle's car hit a pillar.

At 3.10 p.m. that afternoon, a 38-year-old woman, Ms Josephine Cormack, and her 11-year-old daughter, Maria, were killed in a two-car accident at Monard, also in Co Tipperary.

Mrs Cormack had collected her mother from her home in Tipperary town and it is understood they were going for a drive into Limerick.

They had gone only about five miles in very wet conditions when the fatal accident occurred.

The occupants of the second car, a woman and four children, were taken to Limerick Regional Hospital where their condition was said to be not life-threatening.

Relatives were yesterday comforting Mr Eamon Cormack and his two sons, aged 15 and two.

At 1 a.m. on Monday a 42-year-old Donegal man, Mr Barry Grieve, from Claudy, was killed when his car left the road at Umricam, near Buncrana.

No other vehicle was involved.

A 50-year-old man died in a single-vehicle car crash at Ballybeg, near Thurles, Co Tipperary, at 4 a.m. on Monday.

Gardaí were withholding his name last night until family members had been informed.

In Co Cork the body of a man was discovered in a car in a ditch near Ballinhassig.

Gardaí believe the man's car might have left the road some time early on Sunday.

He was named as Mr Owen Lehane, of Dunmanway, Co Cork, who was 26.

Local gardaí have appealed for any witnesses to come forward to their local station or Bandon Garda station at 023-41145.