Funerals are being arranged after five teenagers died in a crash on the M9 in County Kildare at about 3am on Sunday. Four other people were seriously injured when two vehicles collided after a car was driven the wrong way down the motorway.
County Kildare M9 crash
Gardaí said the five dead were all male teenagers and that their bodies had been removed from the scene. The collision happened at junction 3 near Athy, and the other vehicle carried three women and one boy.
The female driver and front-seat passenger were taken to Tallaght university hospital in a critical condition. A female rear-seat passenger in her 20s was taken to St Luke’s general hospital in a serious condition, while a child passenger was taken to Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin in Dublin in a serious condition.
Justin Kelly on wrong-way driving
Justin Kelly described the crash as “horrific” and said, “These family members were travelling innocently when they were struck by a vehicle being driven the wrong way down the motorway.” He also said, “This horrific incident, after the recent collision on the M50, shows how irresponsible and dangerous driving on the wrong side of the motorway is.”
Kelly added that such driving was being done “in some cases” for social media likes, saying, “That, of course, should be self-evident, but what makes this reckless behaviour even more appalling is that in some cases it is being done for social media likes, regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves.”
Naas general hospital postmortems
The bodies of the teenagers were taken to Naas general hospital for postmortem examinations. Kelly said, “As this particular incident has been referred to Fiosrú, the police ombudsman, I am constrained in what I can say in detail about this incident, but I know that gardaí do what they can to stop such vehicles while also taking into consideration all other road users.”
Gardaí are investigating the circumstances and have appealed for witnesses and dashcam footage. Kelly said, “Gardaí are put in a really challenging situation dealing with such incidents.”
