Six people, including a nine-year-old boy and his 32-year-old mother, were killed in a four-hour period between Sunday night and yesterday morning in four separate road accidents. Yesterday afternoon, a man in his 20s died in a fifth accident.
Gardaí say, however, that road deaths are still down on the same period last year.
The mother and child who died in Co Mayo on Sunday night were coming out of the family driveway for a quick shopping trip when their car was in a collision with a van.
The victims were named yesterday as Ms Geraldine Neary and her son, Gerard, from Ballyheane, Castlebar.
Firemen cut the victims from the wreckage and they were rushed to Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, where Ms Neary was pronounced dead before midnight. The young boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The accident occurred shortly after 9 p.m. just outside the newly built Neary home. Mr Tom Neary, a family butcher in Castlebar, was in the house when the accident happened and rushed to the scene.
He was being comforted by friends yesterday as relatives laid wreaths at the scene.
The van driver was hurt in the accident but his injuries are not believed to be serious.
The boy was a third class pupil at Ballyheane National School. His mother was employed at Carrig Dun Enterprises in Westport.
Gardaí in Castlebar (tel: 094-22222) are seeking witnesses to the accident.
They say that it appears Ms Neary had left her house with her son to visit a local shop for groceries. It is understood that the van driver, who was still detained in hospital last evening, had been travelling towards Ballinrobe on the main Castlebar to Galway road when the accident happened.
A Garda spokesman said it was ironic that the double tragedy occurred at a time when the gardaí had been achieving success in their efforts to keep road fatalities in the region down.
Just last week, Mayo gardaí received an award from the National Safety Council for their safety initiatives involving second-level pupils.
An hour after the accident in Mayo, Mr Peter McKenna (20) from Emyvale, Co Monaghan, was killed in a two-car collision at Drumquill, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
He was a passenger in one of the cars. Four people in the second car were taken to hospital in Drogheda.
In Co Donegal, Mr Mark Connolly (21) was killed when his car hit a wall at 11 p.m. on Sunday night. The accident happened at Grousehall, Pettigo.
At 1.15 a.m. yesterday two men died in a traffic accident in Tipperary.
The accident occurred between two cars at Knockroe, in Golden. The driver of one car, Mr Gerard Horan (41), and the passenger in the other car, Mr Thomas McGear (38), were killed.
A man in his 20s was killed when the car he was driving was in collision with a van at Kilflynn near Tralee, at 4.30 p.m. yesterday.
The driver of the van and his two passengers were not seriously injured.
Fifty people have lost their lives on the roads so far this year compared to 69 people in the same period last year.