Five young people have died in a two-vehicle collision on the Ardee Road at Gibstown, County Louth, on the evening of November 15. The incident, described as 'devastating' by local police, has left communities in mourning across the region.
The victims were identified as Chloe McGee (23), a woodwork and construction teacher from Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and her partner Alan McCluskey (23), a fencing contractor from Drumconrath, County Meath. Also killed were Dylan Commins (23), a mechanic from Ardee, County Louth, Chloe Hipson (21), a student from Lanarkshire, Scotland, and Shay Duffy (21), a GAA player and plumbing apprentice from Carrickmacross.
The group were travelling in a Volkswagen Golf when it collided with a Toyota Land Cruiser just after 9pm. A male occupant of the Golf, in his 20s, was taken to hospital. Vigils have been held across County Louth to remember the five, who were described as 'salt of the earth' individuals by family and friends.
Tributes have poured in from the local community and beyond. Monsignor Shane McCaughey, parish priest of Carrickmacross, remembered Chloe McGee as someone who 'had no bother putting on the wellingtons one moment and putting on the glad rags the next'. Pádraig McGovern, principal of the Ó Fiaich Institute where she taught, said she 'loved to help her students and loved to go the extra mile'.
Alan McCluskey was described as a 'gentle soul' by Father Finian Connaughton, while Dylan Commins was remembered by motoring influencer Sammy Hearney as 'genuine, down to earth, hard working, gentle, smart, actually extremely smart and business minded'. Shay Duffy was recalled as a 'lovely lad' who always had a smile, and Chloe Hipson had recently graduated from South Lanarkshire College before moving to Ireland to study.
