A man has died following a single vehicle crash in Co Sligo last night, becoming the fifth person to die on the roads over the weekend.
Gardai are investigating the collision which happened at Bundoran Road, Sligo, shortly before 11pm.
The driver, a man in his 40s, was taken by ambulance to Sligo General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. A female passenger of the car, who was in her late 30s, was uninjured. There was no other vehicle involved in the crash.
Two investigations are under way into an early-morning road collision which claimed the life of a garda and a 19-year-old local man outside Belmullet in north Mayo yesterday.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and the Garda Síochána are conducting separate inquiries into the circumstances which led to the deaths of Garda Terry Dever (48), a father of three from Achill island, Co Mayo, and Stephen Conway (19), a single man from Inver, Co Mayo.
The commission investigates all matters involving loss of life if a member of the force is involved.
Garda Eneas McNulty, also from Achill, sustained injuries and was described as "comfortable" in hospital yesterday, while a third garda who witnessed the collision was being treated for shock.
The head-on collision occurred at about 5.50am yesterday, when Garda Dever and two of his colleagues were travelling from Achill island in two private cars to begin a 6am shift at Belmullet Garda station.
In a statement, the commission said that the three gardaí in two private cars "encountered a car coming in the opposite direction".
"The first car, carrying one garda, narrowly avoided a collision with this vehicle. The second car, carrying two gardaí, was involved in a collision with the oncoming car. The driver of the oncoming car was fatally injured when his car collided with the car travelling in the opposite direction which was occupied by the two off-duty gardaí," the commission said.
"He was removed to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar. He was pronounced dead not long after the incident," the commission said.
Garda Dever was very involved in his community and in sport and music in Saulia, Achill, where he lived with his wife Margaret, and three children, Liam, Alice and Turlough.
Mr Conway, who was the youngest son of Val and Kathleen Conway, had recently finished school and was working in a restaurant in Belmullet. He was a nephew of Terence Conway, spokesman for Shell to Sea Mayo, but had no involvement in a protest at the Glengad site on Saturday evening.
Achill-based Mayo county councillor Michael McNamara (FF) expressed sympathies to both families. He said he knew Garda Dever through his community activities. "I was only talking last night to his wife and son ... and I just couldn't believe what happened early on Sunday. The whole community in Achill is absolutely stunned and shocked," Cllr McNamara said.
The stretch of road where the cars collided - at Attycunnane, less than a mile east of Belmullet on the main road to Ballina - is being resurfaced.
The garda in the front car and his injured colleague will give full statements to the investigations.
A Garda spokesman said funeral arrangements would be confirmed after a postmortem was carried out on Garda Dever. Arrangements were also being made for Mr Conway's funeral.
There were two other fatalities at the weekend. A 74-year-old woman died in hospital after being struck by a car in Limerick city yesterday. The incident happened on the Corbally road at about 2.30pm. The woman was taken to Limerick Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, but she died later in the afternoon. On Saturday, a man in his 20s died in a single vehicle collision on the N20 Cork to Limerick road, south of Buttevant. The car he was driving lost control and left the road at about 6.30am. Gardaí in Mallow are investigating the incident.