The National Safety Council has called for Garda enforcement of road safety "to match international best practice" after seven people were killed in road accidents in a 24-hour period at the weekend. Tim O'Brien reports
It was the worst weekend for fatal road accidents this year. The dead were all young men aged between 18 and 30, all were killed in single vehicle accidents, six of them between 11.40 p.m and 3 a.m.
Two of the young men were killed in separate accidents within 24 hours in the village of Castlefinn, Co Donegal.
Mr Brian Geary (18), a backseat passenger, was killed when the car in which he was travelling left the road at Gortnamuck, Castlefinn, shortly after 2.30 a.m. on Saturday. Three other passengers in the car were taken to hospital.
Also on Saturday Mr Graham Walsh (21) from Rosslare Strand, Co Wexford, was killed when the motorbike he was driving hit a signpost near Rosslare, at about 11.40 a.m.
Shortly before midnight on Saturday two men in their 20s were killed when their vehicle went out of control at Taylors Hill in the Salthill area of Galway.
As of last night their names had not been released by gardaí.
Shortly before 1 a.m. on Sunday another two young men were killed when their vehicle was involved in an accident at Blakestown Road, Mulhuddart, Co Dublin. The were named as David Fowler (29) and Patrick Dowling (27) who lived locally.
At about 2.30 a.m on Sunday a man in his 20s was killed near Castlefinn when the car in which he was travelling left the road. He has not yet been named.
The deaths bring to 94 the number of people killed on the Republic's roads this year, which compares to 74 people killed in the first three months of last year.
The chief executive of the National Safety Council, Mr Pat Costello, said the major factors in road deaths were still speed, alcohol and non-wearing of seat belts. It was clear that "enforcement levels must match international best practice", he said.
The Government's new road safety initiative for the next three years is due to be launched within weeks.
It aims to reduce road deaths by 25 per cent and includes greatly increased targets for Garda detection of offenders.