Road accidents have claimed the lives of six people since last Friday afternoon. A man died and five people were injured in a head-on collision between two cars at Cloghore, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, at about 2.45 a.m. yesterday. Five people who were injured were taken to Sligo General Hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman said that four of the injured were in a stable condition. A woman injured in the crash was transferred to Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, yesterday.
On Saturday afternoon, a man was killed when his motorcycle struck a pole near Slane, Co Meath. He was named as Mr Shane Kelly (22), of Newrath, Slane.
A 78-year-old woman died in hospital shortly after being struck by a car on the main Sligo to Bundoran road near her home in Creevykeel. Ms Annie Flynn was walking along the road with her daughter when the accident occurred at about 10.40 p.m. on Saturday. Both mother and daughter were taken to Sligo General Hospital, where Ms Flynn died later. The daughter, Ms Catrina Flynn, who is in her forties, was said to be in a stable condition yesterday.
A 13-year-old boy, Ross Donoghue, who was killed as he got off the school bus at Ballyhowley, Knock, Co Mayo, last Friday, was the only child of the local Garda sergeant, Mr Richard Donoghue.
Another accident victim, Ms Orla McGrath, of Sommerville House, Navan, Co Meath, who died after her car and a lorry collided on Friday, was the daughter of a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Joseph McGrath, of Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, the hospital where she died a few hours after the accident. Ms McGrath was the only daughter in a family of five.
After the collision, which occurred near Balrath, the lorry overturned on to the roof of her car, crushing it. One of her brothers, who was a passenger in the car, was uninjured, but was treated for shock. Two people in the lorry were taken to hospital, but were said by a Garda spokesman not to be seriously injured.
A 15-year-old girl died when the car in which she was travelling struck a steel fence about two miles outside Dungarvan, Co Waterford, at about 5.30 p.m. yesterday. The driver and another passenger were seriously injured.
There were 474 deaths on the Republic's roads last year. A detailed analysis of the statistics showed that more than a quarter of those who died were pedestrians.
Despite a high-profile Garda campaign last year, the fatality rate was the highest for seven years. The fatalities included 158 drivers, 130 pedestrians, 60 motorcyclists and 27 cyclists.
In the Dublin metropolitan district, 38 pedestrians were killed, compared with 17 drivers. In the Cork, Kerry and Limerick areas, a total of 30 pedestrians died, compared with 28 drivers. Of all fatal accidents, 101 involved a single vehicle.
According to the Garda, the number of motorcyclists killed is particularly alarming, as motorcyclists represent only two per cent of all registered vehicles.
Gardai have pointed out that the number of fatalities in the second half of last year was lower than in the same period the previous year, a trend they attributed to their Operation Lifesaver initiative, initially launched in the Louth/Meath area last July.