Girl aged six dies less than two weeks after crash

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl seriously injured in a car crash earlier this month has died in hospital.

The single-vehicle collision took place at 4pm on February 8, on the M6 eastbound between Tyrellspass and Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath.

The girl was rushed to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin to be treated for serious injuries but she died on Saturday, gardaí confirmed yesterday. Two other people in the car, a man in his 40s and a nine-yearold boy, were not seriously injured.

Gardaí at Mullingar are continuing their investigation. A spokesman said: ‘A six-year-old girl, who was a passenger in the car and suffered serious injuries, was pronounced deceased at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street on Saturday, February 17.

‘The coroner has been notified, and arrangements are being made for a post-mortem examination.’

The death of the six-year-old brings the total number of lives lost on Irish roads to date this year to 28, after a man aged in his 20s died following a road traffic incident in Kilkenny on Saturday, and a cyclist was killed following a collision with a car in Dublin yesterday morning.

There were also 28 deaths at the same point last year.

Yesterday’s incident took place shortly before 9.30am on the Malahide Road in Kinsealy. The cyclist, a man aged in his 40s, was rushed to Beaumont Hospital with serious injuries. He was later pronounced dead.

Proposals to reduce speed limits to help cut the number of road deaths have been described as a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ by Michael Healy-Rae. ‘There are other issues they should be looking at, such as making our roads safer by doing more removal of dangerous junctions, cutting the hedges on the roads, taking the water off the roads,’ the TD said.