Three of the young men in the Volkswagen Golf that crashed on Saturday night were lifelong friends whose families live close to one another outside Ardee, Co Louth, according to local taxi driver Leonard Malone.
Dylan Commins and Alan McCluskey, both aged 23, died in the collision, as did Chloe McGee (23) and Shay Duffy, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and Chloe Hipson (21), from Lanarkshire, Scotland, who was living in Carrickmacross.
The sixth passenger in the car was a young man from outside Ardee who is not being named. Mr McCluskey was going out with Ms McGee.
The group of friends are understood to have been going to socialise in Dundalk when the two-vehicle collision occurred.
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“I would know three of the families, [the family of the injured man], the Commins, and the McCluskey’s,” said Mr Malone.
They all live near a T-junction a few minutes drive outside Ardee, with Mr McCluskey’s family being closer to the village of Drumconrath, Co Meath.
“It’s a triangle, from one house to the next one, not more than half a mile between each,” said Mr Malone. “Three lifetime friends.”
“The three boys had three businesses going. Dylan did car transporters and had his own business up and running. [Alan McCluskey] had a fencing business up and running with his father. And the other lad had a business with his father, and he was up and coming and taking over.
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“They were three young businessmen coming up in the world. It is just so sad, so it is. They were just out for the night and whatever happened, happened, and that’s it.”
“It’s dreadful, absolutely dreadful,” said Susan Crosby, from nearby Cookstown, who stopped to speak with The Irish Times in Ardee.
“Everyone is just in shock. I have a young child that’s 18 that’s driving, and I’d nearly like to take the car off him now at this stage.”
Paula Levins, from Funshog, Co Louth, said everyone in the Ardee area “is absolutely devastated, and talking about it, and will be for a long time to come”.
“Five lives gone, just in a flash.”
Three of the men in the Volkswagen were from the Coole/Drumconrath area, and the two women who died were living in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, while Shay Duffy lived just outside the Co Monaghan town.
The Volkswagen’s collided with a Toyota Landcruiser on a small road near Gibstown, close to junction 16 on the M1, at approximately 9pm on Saturday night.
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The young man and young woman in the Landcruiser were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
“Everyone is in shock,” said a woman in Carrickmacross, who did not want to give her name.
“When you hear it on the radio you just think, have I someone that is out in a car? And everyone knows them. Everyone knows the McGees.”
“We’re all connected,” said a woman in Carrickmacross who did not want to give her name.
“One of the families is just a kilometre away from my house [the Duffys]. It’s just so tragic. I know there’s Meath, Monaghan, Louth, but they are all connected, everyone knows each other. Carrickmacross would be the main town, but we are all linked, and we kind of know all the families really.”
The shock and sense of devastation hangs over the whole region, she said.
“Yesterday, of course, we were all joyful at Ireland’s glory at the match in Hungary, and we celebrated that, but it is hard to celebrate, because it is somewhat meaningless around here, at the minute, because there is so much suffering and tragedy and devastation.”
“I know the girl’s mother,” says Kathleen McCahey, from Carrickmacross. “I worked with her in the Bose [speaker] factory, years ago.”
“It’s an awful thing, tragic.”
