A jury at an inquest into the deaths of three young people has said that no motorways should open to traffic until suitable crash barriers are in place.
In a strongly worded rider to its verdict, the jury at Dundalk Coroner's Court also called for the immediate installation of a barrier on the central divide on the Dunleer motorway in Co Louth.
The court heard yesterday that the motorway was the scene of an accident that killed three young people on August 13th last year when their car went out of control, crossed the central reservation of the M1 and collided with a van going in the opposite direction.
At the time there were no crash barriers in the central reservation on the Dunleer motorway, although the National Roads Authority is now preparing to have them installed.
The three - Ms Celine McArdle (21), Boyle O'Reilly Terrace, Dundalk; Mr Gerard McLoughlin (21) of Anne Street, Dundalk, and Ms Elaine McGeough (22), Barrack Street, Dundalk - worked together and were travelling from Dundalk to Dublin.
At around 2 p.m. the car, driven by Mr McLoughlin, went out of control, crossed the central reservation and collided with a Ford van, which had been travelling north towards Dundalk.
Van driver Mr Kieran Phillips said in his deposition that he remembered nothing of the collision but "I remember thinking where did the blue car come from?"
His passenger, Mr Stephen Halpenny, said he had fallen asleep and woke up to see "a car in front of us five feet away coming towards us sideways".
A motorist travelling behind the van said the car went straight across both of the northbound lanes.
Garda Sgt Anne Byrne, who investigated the accident, said: "I could see a gap in the wire and shrub fence which divides the north and south lanes."
Both vehicles ended up in the slow lane of the northbound side of the motorway.
Garda Insp Eamonn Hynes, a PSV inspector, said both vehicles were mechanically sound.
Asked by Mr James MacGuil, solicitor for the McArdle family, if further fatal accidents could be avoided by the construction of appropriate median divides, he replied: "There is no doubt about it."
Pathologist Dr John Ryan concluded that in each case death was due to multiple injuries consistent with a road traffic collision.
County Coroner Mr Ronan Maguire said it was not within his power to call a witness from the National Roads Authority (NRA) and he instead quoted from a press release on its website which said the erection of the line wire on the central divide was to support plants and hedges and "has no crash barrier function or capability".
Mr Maguire added that the NRA has since revised its policy on crash barriers and it now intends to fit them on the road in question. The jury returned verdicts that the three victims had died as a result of multiple injuries due to a road traffic collision.
After the conclusion of the inquest, Mr Thomas McArdle, the father of Celine, said he believed that if a crash barrier had been in the central divide of the motorway, his daughter "would still be here, she may have been injured but she would be here. They all would".
The three were travelling to Dublin to go to a concert when tragedy struck.
Mr Joe McLoughlin, father of Gerard, said:
"I hope the Minister for Transport and the National Roads Authority take on board what has been said. The grief I have suffered, and my family and relatives, is unbearable. I want to spare anybody else going through what we are going through."
Mr McArdle called for barriers to be put in place straight away. "If you are going to spend millions and millions on motorways the least you could do is put decent barriers in place."