Road death toll hits five in bank holiday weekend of carnage

FIVE people have died in separate incidents during what has been a bank holiday weekend of carnage on Irish roads.

A man in his 50s was pronounced dead following an incident that saw the M1 in Co. Meath closed for a number of hours yesterday.

He was killed when the articulated lorry he was driving jack-knifed at around 8.30am just south of the toll plaza on the busy motorway.

The vehicle appeared to career out of control and struck a lay-by used by gardaí as an observational post.

While the lorry did not overturn, southbound traffic was prevented from passing the scene, leading to major traffic tailbacks. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.

In Co. Wicklow, the community of Arklow are coming to terms with the death of a local farmer in his 40s following a collision.

The man, named locally as Declan Kelly, died when he was struck by a car on the Coolgreany Road, Arklow, at around 2.20am yesterday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and removed to St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, where a postmortem was due to be carried out.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Fianna Fáil councillor for Arklow, Tommy Annesley said that Mr Kelly was part of a well-known farming family who had lived in the area for generations.

Elsewhere, another man died in a single-vehicle collision over the weekend that has also left a young woman fighting for her life in hospital.

Seán Halloran, 20, was a front-seat passenger of the car when he was killed in a single-vehicle crash at Churchfield, Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, a man in his 40s died in a single-vehicle crash on the M6 near Athlone on Saturday afternoon.

And on Friday, Cavan GAA backroom team member, Dominic Earley, was killed in a collision in Co. Fermanagh.