Two people were killed in separate road traffic accidents yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths on the State's roads so far this year to 203, almost the same as for the same period last year.
A man in his 20s was killed after the motorcycle he was driving collided with a car in Co Cork.
The motorcycle struck a car and trailer at Saleen Hill, Midleton, Co Cork, at about 3.30pm, according to gardaí. The man had not yet been named last night.
In a separate incident, gardaí in Letterkenny are investigating a single-vehicle accident in which a 27-year-old man was killed.
At about 3.25am the car which the man was driving struck a wall at Oldtown, Letterkenny. He was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital for a postmortem examination.
Last night gardaí named the victims of Thursday's road collision in Castlebar, Co Mayo, where two women were killed.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick (77), from Lisacue, Castlerea, and Marian Maye (48), a mother of seven from Kilkelly, Co Mayo, died following the accident on the N5 near Bellavary, Castlebar, at about 5.10pm on Thursday.
The women were travelling in the same car. Mrs Maye had collected her aunt, Mrs Fitzpatrick, from the hospital a short time earlier.
Mrs Fitzpatrick, a widow, had been admitted to hospital the previous day for treatment to a hand injury sustained during a visit to a family plot at her local graveyard in Lisacul, Co Roscommon.
The driver of the second car, a man in his 20s, was taken to Castlebar General Hospital with serious injuries.
Gardaí have renewed their appeal for witnesses to this accident to contact them at Castlebar Garda station at (094) 902-2222.
Meanwhile, seat belts fitted into buses carrying 69 people, mostly children, have been credited with saving passengers from serious injury after the vehicles were involved in an accident on the way back from a day trip on Thursday.
The buses were bringing the children to Dublin from Clara Lara funpark in Co Wicklow at about 4pm when the accident happened.
Several children were injured and taken to Tallaght and Crumlin hospitals, but their injuries were not life-threatening.