There have been renewed calls for measures to improve road safety after a series of accidents killed 10 people since last Friday. So far this year, 352 people have lost their lives on the State's roads, compared to 331 at the same point last year.
A 58-year-old businessman from Co Longford, Brian Mulvihill, became the latest victim when he was killed in a single vehicle crash yesterday. His jeep veered out of control on an icy stretch of road at Terlicken, Ballymahon shortly before 9am, and he died at the scene.
A 12-year-old boy was killed in Limerick on Sunday night when he was struck by a car as he crossed the road at Woodpark, Castleconnell. The boy was named locally as Jonathan Grace, a fifth class pupil at Castleconnell National School. He was killed at 10.20pm after being struck by a car near his home at Daly's Cross on the Limerick to Dublin road.
Elsewhere, a man in his late 40s died after a crash at Breenagh, Letterkenny, Co Donegal at 12.30am on Sunday. He was a passenger in the car and was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people in the car had minor injuries.
Meanwhile, gardaí have named the victims of some of the weekend's accidents. Three people killed in Saturday's crash at Stradbally, Co Laois were husband and wife Nicole and Patrick Kelly, both aged 70 years and from Summerhill, Co Roscommon, and 71-year-old Andrew Bealin. Mr Bealin was a cousin of Patrick Kelly and a United States citizen. All three died after their car collided with a truck at Money Cross in Stradbally at 10.40am on Saturday.
A 28-year-old man killed on Sunday evening when he was knocked down by a bus close to the N4/M50 interchange in Dublin was Arum Khanna of Drumgeely, Co Clare. Mr Khanna was originally from India. He had just got out of his car at 7.55pm and was hit as he crossed the road. He died immediately.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on transport, Olivia Mitchell, yesterday described as "a sham" and "a set-up" a meeting on random breath testing between Minister for Transport Martin Cullen and the Oireachtas Transport Committee last week. She said Mr Cullen was reluctant to introduce random testing because it would be "politically unpopular".
She said: "The appalling death toll from last weekend is unacceptable. The threat of random breath testing is a proven way of improving driver behaviour. So why is Minister Cullen, who has responsibility in this area, not pursuing it vigorously?"
The chairman of the National Safety Council, Eddie Shaw, said road safety would not improve until the Government began to look on its financing as an investment and not a cost. He also called for a form of random breath testing to be introduced.