Five teenagers died and four people were seriously injured in a head-on crash on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday morning. The collision involved a stolen vehicle and a family car heading to Dublin Airport, according to the Garda Representative Association (GRA).
Victims and Response
The five teenagers who died have been named locally as Joe Carthy and Jack Kennedy from Athy, Co Kildare, Alex McCarthy and Jeremy O’Brien from Carlow, and Kamil Pustkowski from Limerick. One of the seriously injured is a child.
St Michael’s Boxing Club in Athy, which Joe Carthy had been involved in, expressed condolences and said their thoughts are with those seriously injured and their families.
Political Reaction
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was “shocked and saddened” at the crash, which he described as the result of “an irresponsible and dangerous act”. He said such incidents are, in some cases, “being done for likes on social media”.
Mr Martin added: “This is the second appalling crash we’ve seen on our roads in a matter of days as a result of the reckless driving of a car on the wrong side of the motorway, endangering the lives of innocent road users.”
He said: “There can be no tolerance for this reckless behaviour that we have seen on our roads recently. It must stop.” He thanked emergency personnel who attended the “devastating scene” and said he would be speaking to the Minister for Justice and to An Garda Síochána.
Garda Response and Concerns
GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell said the incident involved a stolen BMW that drove the wrong way down the M9 while trying to evade gardaí, resulting in a head-on collision with a family car. He said the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardaí and that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way.
Mr O’Connell said there were “numerous gangs” of boys and young men “trying to outdo each other” in social media videos depicting interactions with gardaí, pursuits and wrong-way driving. He said members face internal sanctions, discipline and possible criminal offences when they engage in pursuits, and that garda cars have been rammed by stolen vehicles.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described the collision as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of motorways for social media likes.
Fr Tom Little, a priest in Carlow who had been speaking to affected families, said there is an atmosphere of “sadness” and “disbelief” in the area, while also “hope” for those hurt. St Joseph’s National School principal and Fine Gael councillor Fergal Browne said the town is “numb”. He said he knew one of the boys who died as he was a past pupil.
The previous weekend, nine people were injured in a head-on collision on the M50 in Dublin with a car travelling in the wrong direction.
