A 20-YEAR-OLD man died early yesterday in a road crash near Manorcunningham, Co Donegal, while in a separate incident in the county a man was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a hit-and-run near Portnoo, in which a man was injured.
And on Arranmore Island, off the Donegal coast, firemen and a lifeboat were called out to help get a young woman involved in a crash to a mainland hospital.
The Donegal tragedy brings to six the number of road fatalities over the bank holiday weekend.
Four of the deaths were in the Republic, one more than the August bank holiday last year, while there were five in 2006 on what is considered one of the busiest weekends in the year.
The Road Safety Authority said their thoughts were with the families of the deceased.
"One death is one too many," a spokesman said. "We wouldn't draw any conclusions from a single weekend, even if there were no fatalities," he added.
Up to the start of the bank holiday weekend, there were 25 fewer road fatalities compared to the same time last year.
The trend "is going in the right direction but that is of little comfort to the families of those killed", the spokesman added.
The fatal collision in Donegal happened shortly after 3am at Magherabeg, Manorcunningham, on the main road between Letterkenny and Derry.
The male driver of the second vehicle in the two-car crash was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Letterkenny General Hospital. Staff at the hospital also treated the young woman injured in the Arranmore incident.
She had to be cut free from her car by members of the island's fire-fighting service. Also serving as members of the island's lifeboat service, they transferred her to Burtonport from where she was taken by ambulance to hospital. She was later discharged after treatment for minor injuries.
The man arrested in the hit-and-run incident, who is from Northern Ireland, was held at Ballyshannon Garda station.
He was detained after a 30-year-old man was struck as he walked on the road between Summy Crossroads and Kilclooney Church. He was treated in Letterkenny General Hospital for injuries which were said to be not life-threatening.
The five other fatalities, three involving pedestrians, occurred on Saturday and Sunday. In Co Galway the body of a male pedestrian in his 60s was discovered at Drumgriffin, Corrandulla, and a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with the incident.
In Galway a man in his 40s died after being struck by a car at Carraroe at 1.50am on Sunday, while a 41-year-old pedestrian was fatally injured when he was struck by a van at Moneymore, Cookstown, also early on Sunday.
In Co Clare a 19-year-old woman died when the car she was driving collided with another vehicle on the Doonbeg road near Kilkee on Sunday. In Co Fermanagh a teenage driver died after his car crashed on Clones Road near Newtownbutler early on Saturday morning.