There can be ‘no tolerance’ for reckless driving, Ireland’s premier has said, after a horror fatal head-on crash with involving a stolen vehicle.
Five teenagers, all occupants of one of the vehicles, died and four people were seriously injured in the crash on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday morning.
One of those seriously injured is a child.
A body representing rank-and-file members of Ireland’s police service An Garda Síochána said an instruction had been given not to pursue the vehicle the wrong way down the motorway.
The five teenagers have been named locally as Joe Carthy and Jack Kennedy from Athy, Co Kildare, Alex McCarthy and Jeremy O’Brien from Carlow and Kamil Pustkowski from Limerick.
Condolences were expressed by St Michael’s Boxing Club in Athy which Joe Carthy had been involved in. Representatives added their thoughts are also with those who were seriously injured in the collision, and with their families.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was “shocked and saddened” at the horrific road crash on the M9 in Kildare yesterday, which he described as being the result of “an irresponsible and dangerous act”.
Mr Martin said such incidents are, in some cases, “being done for likes on social media”.
He said: “This is the second appalling crash we’ve seen on our roads in a matter of days as a result of the reckless driving of a car on the wrong side of the motorway, endangering the lives of innocent road users.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin (Liam McBurney/PA)PA WireHe added: “My thoughts and prayers are with the family who have been injured.
“I wish them a full recovery.
“The lives of five teenagers have also been lost as a result.
“Every death on our roads brings untold grief to families and communities.
“There can be no tolerance for this reckless behaviour that we have seen on our roads recently.
“It must stop.”
Mr Martin thanked emergency personnel who attended the “devastating scene” and said he would be speaking to the Minister for Justice and to An Garda Síochána about the matter.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said its members were “all in shock” after the “horrific incident”.
GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell said on Monday: “This involved a stolen BMW that drove, trying to evade gardaí, drove the wrong way down the M9 and then a head-on collision occurred with this car of a family heading to Dublin Airport on holidays for a few days.”
The scene on the M9 northbound (Niall Carson/PA)PA WireMr O’Connell said the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardaí and that it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9.
Asked if this was standard procedure, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio programme: “It would be standard practice, and the command and control centre would be dictating what happens in a live environment – but the members in the cars have to make a split-second decision.”
Mr O’Connell said there were “numerous gangs” of boys and young men “trying to outdo each other” in social media videos depicting interactions with Gardaí, pursuits and wrong-way driving.
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“Our members are not going to follow down that route – we’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, that way.”
The scene on the M9 northbound at junction 3 in Co Kildare (Niall Carson/PA)PA WireThe Kildare-based representative said the GRA did not “know what the exact answer is” to address the problem, but added: “There’s not one member of An Garda Síochána trained in pursuit – never mind in dealing with cars going down the wrong way.”
Mr O’Connell said gardaí also face internal sanctions, discipline and possible criminal offences when they decide to engage in pursuits.
He said garda cars have also been rammed by stolen vehicles.
Mr O’Connell said there was a need to “look at the sentences” when these cases come before the courts, as he criticised those partaking in wrong-way driving as “playing Russian roulette with their lives and everyone else’s lives”.
He urged parents to talk to their sons about the potential consequences if they get into a stolen car “for the craic and the clicks”.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly (Cillian Sherlock/PA)PA WireGarda Commissioner Justin Kelly has described the head-on collision between junctions 3 and 4 as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of motorways for social media likes.
A priest in Carlow who had been speaking to affected families said there is an atmosphere of “sadness” and “disbelief” in the area, while also “hope” for those who have been hurt.
Fr Tom Little told RTÉ’s News at One: “It makes us realise, too, the danger of the roads and the need to be careful.”
Meanwhile, a local school principal in Carlow said the town is “numb”.
St Joseph’s National School principal and Fine Gael councillor Fergal Browne told the same programme: “There’s a huge range of emotions.
“This is a tragedy on so many levels and it’s going to take a long time to recover from.
“People are thinking of the family who were involved in the crash on the way to the airport, and everyone is hoping, they’ll make full recoveries and obviously the families of the people who passed away are grieving and they’ve a long difficult journey ahead of them as well.”
Mr Browne said he knew one of the boys who died as he was a past pupil.
The previous weekend, nine people were injured in a head-on collision on the M50 in Dublin with a car travelling in the wrong direction on the motorway.