Three die in road incidents over weekend

THREE PEOPLE have been killed in road incidents over the weekend, including an Irishman in Australia.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing assistance to the family of a young Galwayman who was killed when knocked down in a town in Queensland late on Friday night, local time.

He was named locally as Enda O’Donoghue (24) from Caherglissane, Ardrahan, a village just outside Gort.

He was crossing the road at about 11.50pm on Friday in the town of Ingham, about 100km north of Townsville in Queensland, when he was hit by a car. He was taken to Ingham hospital in a critical condition before being flown to Townsville hospital, where he died on Saturday morning.

The driver of the car was not badly injured. Mr O’Donoghue had been in the country about five weeks and was working with relatives in the Townsville area.

It is the second tragedy for the O’Donoghue family. The dead man’s brother Aidan drowned aged 27 in the River Fergus in Ennis, Co Clare, in January 2005.

He had been at a disco in Ennis and had been declared missing for a week before his body was taken from the water.

A family friend said their parents, Bernie and Mary, and four remaining siblings were devastated.

“It’s tough on them,” said one local who did not want to be named. “It’s a difficult situation, as it’s the second tragedy the family has had. We still don’t have a clear picture of what happened.”

A brother who had been with Mr O’Donoghue in Australia is on his way home.

In separate incidents here over the weekend, a 27-year-old male pedestrian was killed yesterday in an incident involving a minibus shortly before 3am at the Liberties, Carlingford, Co Louth. He died at the scene and was removed to the Louth Hospital in Dundalk. Witnesses are asked to contact Dundalk Garda station on 042-9388400, or any Garda station.

A single-vehicle crash in Cavan resulted in the death of a man in his 20s at about 6.30am on Saturday. He had been travelling from Killydoon to Gowna when the car he was driving left the road at Drumcor. A male passenger, also in his 20s, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. He was taken to Cavan General Hospital.

– (Additional reporting PA)