Taoiseach worried over road deaths

THE Taoiseach has said he is very worried about the ‘extraordinary loss of life’ on Irish roads this year.

There have been 42 deaths on the roads so far this year compared to 39 this time last year, with 2023 one of the worst years for fatalities in a decade.

Yesterday, a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a lorry in Co. Donegal, while a woman was left in a critical condition when her car entered the River Corrib in Galway.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stressed that death wasn’t the only tragic outcome of these collisions.

He said: ‘Beyond people losing their lives on the road, there are a lot of people who are experiencing life-changing injuries which we don’t hear about so much, and that’s extremely serious too.’

According to research by the Road Safety Authority, 10% of people have got behind the wheel of a car after drinking alcohol in the past 12 months.

Branding enforcement ‘absolutely crucial, Mr Varadkar said: ‘People are less likely to obey laws if they don’t think they’re going to be enforced, so that’s really important.’

A pedestrian in his 30s was killed after a crash involving a lorry on the R245 at Magheranan in Letterkenny shortly before 6am yesterday. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to the mortuary in University Hospital Letterkenny where a postmortem was due to take place. Gardaí said the lorry driver was uninjured.

In a separate incident, a woman in her 30s was left in a critical condition, and a man in his 40s was hospitalised after a car entered the water in Galway yesterday morning.

Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to both accidents to come forward.

Ahead of the St Patrick’s Day bank holiday weekend, Garda Assistant Commissioner for Roads Policing Paula Hilman said an ‘extensive’ operation will be under way this weekend.