Eight young people died in traffic accidents at the weekend, bringing to 199 the number of fatalities on roads in the Republic this year.
The weekend death toll included a married couple in their 20s and four teenagers. The average age of those killed was 21.
Gardai have appealed for witnesses to a car crash in Co Limerick which claimed the lives of Mr William Harty (17) and Mr Ciaran Byrnes (18) from Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, Co Limerick. The accident occurred on the Limerick-Askeaton road at Clarina Cross, Ballydwane, when their car crashed into a wall at about 1.15 a.m. on Saturday morning.
The accident happened on a straight stretch of roadway and no other vehicle was involved. Both deceased were members of large families, the and Patrickswell parish priest, Mgr Michael Lane, said the whole community was "shocked and saddened by the tragic deaths of these young men".
Meanwhile, a married couple were killed when the car they were driving crashed into a parked cattle truck in the townland of Kilcogy, Co Cavan.
It is understood it was raining heavily when their car crashed into the rear of the truck at about 8.30 p.m. on Saturday night. The couple, who were named as Mr Hugh Muldoon and his wife, Martina, from Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, were taken to Cavan General Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
In Donegal a man was killed when two cars travelling in the same direction collided at about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. The cars were on the Ballybofey road travelling towards Donegal town at the time. According to gardai the cars left the road and overturned in a nearby field.
The rear-seat passenger who was killed in the accident was named as Mr Rory Keeney (18), from Donegal town. According to gardai he died at the scene. Five other occupants of the cars were taken to Letterkenny General Hospital but none of their injuries is said to be life-threatening.
Two men riding a motorcycle were killed when their machine crashed into a tree at Tolka Bridge in Finglas, Co Dublin, early yesterday morning.
The driver, named as Mr Peter McMahon (19), died instantly while the passenger, Mr Noel Brennan (20), died a few hours later in the Mater Hospital. Both were from Castlepark, Ashbourne, Co Meath.
In west Cork, gardai have named the young motorcyclist who died late on Friday night as Mr Timothy Condon (23), from Ballincubby Estate, Kinsale.
Mr Condon was in a group of motorcyclists travelling from Ballinspittle to Kinsale when the accident happened at Dromdough, Kinsale, around 11 p.m. Mr Condon died at the scene. The deceased was the second motorcyclist to die in traffic accidents in west Cork in the past week.
The number of road deaths so far this year is still below that for the same period in 1997. But that is a "hollow boast", according to Mr Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch.
"Apart from the very obvious human tragedy of the deaths this weekend the numbers are extremely disappointing. While we are marginally below the figures for the same time last year that is a hollow boast because 472 died on the roads in 1997 and that was disastrous," he said.
Mr Faughnan blamed attitudes to road safety rules for a situation which meant the Republic now had double the per-capita road deaths of the United Kingdom.