Gardaí were told not to engage with a stolen vehicle travelling the wrong way down a motorway before a fatal head-on crash with another car, according to the Garda Representative Association (GRA). Five teenagers, all occupants of one vehicle, died and four people were seriously injured in the crash on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday morning. One of those seriously injured is a child.
GRA says members 'in shock'
The GRA said its members were “all in shock” after the “horrific incident”. GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell said on Monday: “This involved a stolen BMW that drove – trying to evade gardaí – drove the wrong way down the M9 and then a head-on collision occurred with this car of a family heading to Dublin Airport on holidays for a few days.”
Mr O’Connell said the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardaí and that it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9. Asked if this was standard procedure, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio programme: “It would be standard practice, and the command and control centre would be dictating what happens in a live environment – but the members in the cars have to make a split-second decision.”
Social media trend and pursuit risks
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. “Our members are not going to follow down that route – we’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, that way.”
The Kildare-based representative said the GRA did not “know what the exact answer is” to address the problem, but added: “There’s not one member of An Garda Síochána trained in pursuit – never mind in dealing with cars going down the wrong way.”
Mr O’Connell said gardaí also face internal sanctions, discipline and possible criminal offences when they decide to engage in pursuits. He said garda cars have also been rammed by stolen vehicles.
Call for sentences and parental talks
Mr O’Connell said there was a need to “look at the sentences” when these cases come before the courts, as he criticised those partaking in wrong-way driving as “playing Russian roulette with their lives and everyone else’s lives”. He urged parents to talk to their sons about the potential consequences if they get into a stolen car “for the craic and the clicks”.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has described the head-on collision between junctions 3 and 4 as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of motorways for social media likes. 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 on the motorway.
