Five people have died as the result of road accidents since Sunday night. Ms Irene Murtagh (26), of Kells, Co Meath, was killed when the car in which she was travelling as a passenger collided with a parked vehicle at 11.20 p.m. on Sunday at Mullagh, Co Cavan.
A pedestrian in his 60s, Mr Jeremiah Ahern, died after being struck by a car at 12.10 a.m. yesterday near his home at Lisselton, near Listowel, Co Kerry.
An executive of the Limerick Leader, Ms Angela McGrath (29), died yesterday morning as a result of serious head injuries received on Saturday morning while she was driving from Tralee to Shannon Airport.
Ms McGrath, who was from Midleton, Co Cork, had been attending a function honouring the writer John B. Keane and was on her way to spend St Valentine's weekend with her fiance, Mr Joe Gordon, in London. The accident occurred at Headley's Bridge, on the main Castleisland-Abbeyfeale road when the car she was driving was in collision with an articulated truck at about 7.15 a.m. on Saturday.
Ms McGrath joined the Limerick Leader as marketing director in January 1998. She is survived by her mother, two brothers and a sister.
At 2.15 a.m. yesterday a young man and woman were killed after their car struck a parked lorry on the Naas dual carriageway at Kill, Co Kildare. The man was named as Mr Eldon Kernan (23), of Newcastle, Co Dublin and the woman as Ms Gabrielle Curtis (20), of Naas, Co Kildare.