Five men were killed in separate road traffic accidents in Donegal and Wicklow over the weekend.
The five victims included three Latvian men and two Irish nationals. One of the Irish victims had escaped from Shelton Abbey open prison in Wicklow when the motorcycle he and an accomplice were travelling on hit a parked bus, killing them both.
The escaped prisoner was named yesterday as John Cunningham (34) from Tallaght.
The Irish Prison Service notified gardaí at 11.30 p.m. on Friday that Cunningham had just absconded. The fatal accident which claimed his life occurred just 45 minutes later, at around 12.15 a.m.
Cunningham had been serving two separate prison sentences totalling 18 months for car theft and trespass. He had served around nine months of the sentence at the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise.
He was transferred to the Shelton Abbey open facility last Monday to complete his sentence.
The Irish Prison Service said Cunningham's transfer was "routine" and in line with its policy of transferring inmates to open facilities near the end of their sentences in preparation for their eventual release.
Prison sources said they were "baffled" over why Cunningham would want to escape from the relaxed regime of Shelton Abbey so close to his September release date.
It was also unclear why he would have felt the need to plot an elaborate escape plan with his accomplice, as appears to have been the case, when he could have walked out of Shelton Abbey at any time.
The motorbike used in the escape attempt had been stolen in the Sligo area around three weeks ago. It is believed the bike was driven to Arklow on Friday night by the other man killed in the accident. The second man had not been named by gardaí last night.
The bike hit a parked single decker bus at Ballinamessda, between Wicklow town and Arklow.
Both the bus and motorbike burst into flames shortly after impact. The driver of the bus was on board at the time but escaped before the fire took hold. Gardaí said he was not injured during the incident.
Gardaí in Wicklow have appealed for any eyewitnesses to come forward.
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said while the full facts of the escape bid were not yet known, it appeared that staff at Shelton Abbey had noticed Cunningham's disappearance almost immediately.
The spokesman said the governor of the open prison would conduct an investigation into the incident.
The three Latvian men who lost their lives in Donegal have been named by gardaí as Mr Janis Rogis (21), Mr Maris Valbe (22) and Mr Danis Sters (19). All three men had addresses at Meenaward, Buncrana, Co Donegal.
Gardaí believe there were no other vehicles involved in the fatal crash and said initial investigations indicated that the car may have struck a bridge before coming to rest in a ditch.
The car and bodies of the three men were discovered by a passerby at 7.45 a.m. at the scene at Grannie's Gap near Burnfoot.
Gardaí at Burnfoot have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
A fourth Latvian who was in the red Ford Fiesta was last night in a "stable" condition in Letterkenny General Hospital.
The four men had been working in a local engineering company in Inishowen since the start of the year. The father of one of the victims is also working in Donegal.
It is understood they had been on a night out in the village of Muff with other Latvians.
The five weekend road deaths brings to 170 the number of people killed on the Republic's roads this year, compared with 153 to June 18th last year.