Three young people were killed in a collision between a car and a lorry in Co Laois yesterday afternoon and a man was killed by a lorry in Dublin last evening. This brings the death toll on the State's roads over the past two days to 11.
A 24-year-old man died hours after a collision in Finglas, Dublin, when a dumper truck struck his motorised wheelchair at 1.40pm on Cardiffsbridge Road. The victim, from Blanchardstown, west Dublin, was taken to Connolly hospital, where he died shortly before 9pm.
In the Laois crash, two men and a woman died when their car collided with an articulated lorry on the N8 at Clonad, outside Portlaoise, at about 2.45pm. Another man, an occupant of the same car, was seriously injured and remained in Portlaoise General Hospital last night.
Unconfirmed reports said they were travelling home from the Oxegen concert in Punchestown. The lorry driver was understood not to be seriously injured.
The parish priest at nearby Raheen, Father James Kelly, said the crash happened on a straight stretch of the main Portlaoise to Abbeyleix road.
"It's a very busy road, with a lot of lorries coming up and down it, and a lot of traffic since the bypass opened. I don't know how it happened, but it's very sad."
Earlier, two men were killed in separate collisions in counties Cork and Clare. In Co Cork, Colin Heddarman (23), of Beech Park, Ballincollig, died in a two-car crash on the Cork to Macroom road shortly after 8am.
In Co Clare, Seamus Whelan (54), Mountrivers, Doonbeg, Co Clare, died when the car in which he was a passenger hit a bridge in Kilkee at about 5.15am.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Galway are investigating Sunday's crash outside Athenry that claimed the lives of Johnny Maloney (33), Ballinasloe, Yvonne Mahoney (24), from Loughrea, and her daughter, Bobbi-Ann Mahoney. They died after a two-car crash.
Their deaths followed that of Michelle Glancy (9), Clonterm, Longford, who died when the car in which she was a passenger overturned at Cloonturk on the Longford to Kilashee road at 5pm on Sunday.
The weekend's first fatality was a pedestrian who died after being struck by a car in Carrickboy, Co Longford, on Sunday morning. He was Patrick Higgins of Drumming, Ardagh, Co Longford.
The death toll on the State's roads this year now stands at 216, 21 more than at the same date last year.