Ten killed on roads since Friday

The number of people killed on the State's roads at the weekend rose to 10 after two people died in crashes yesterday.

The number of people killed on the State's roads at the weekend rose to 10 after two people died in crashes yesterday.

Francis McGoldrick (34) of Carrowshee Park, Lisnaskea, died when his car was in a head-on crash at around 8pm at Cranaghan, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.

Also in Co Cavan, the 16-year-old who died after crashing a car on Saturday night near Cootehill was today named as Daniel Boyle of Shantonagh, near the town.

Elsewhere, the man killed shortly after midday on Saturday near Enfield, Co Meath, was named as Sean Mac Aogain (56) of Abbeyfield, Killester, Co Dublin.

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The man killed in a crash at Hackballscross, Co Louth yesterday has been named as Pádraig McCluskey (36) of Littlemills, Dundalk, Co Louth.

Also in Co Louth, a man (32) from Newry was killed when his SUV overturned and rolled several times at around 2.30pm on Saturday near the border village of Omeath. Gardaí are seeking a man they believe was also travelling in the vehicle and left the scene of the crash.

Ernestas Rimkus (38) was also killed in Co Louth at the weekend when he lost control of his car and crashed into a telegraph pole on Saturday morning just before 1am on the Rathmullen Road in Drogheda.

Damien Pelletier (30) with an address at Rossvale, Portlaoise, was named as the man killed in a crash at Togher, Portlaoise, Co Laois on Saturday.

Gardaí have named the victim of a fatal crash on Dublin's Belgard Road shortly after midnight on Saturday as Katishe Madire (37) of Belgard Heights, Tallaght.

A total of ten people were killed on the roads since Friday. The first was Andrew Dowling (29) of Keeper Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who was a passenger in a car that crashed at Kinnegad on the N6 between Dublin and Galway at 10.40am.

Later, a man (80) who was knocked by a lorry in Emyvale, Co Monaghan on Friday afternoon died in hospital.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) today warned the road users to be particularly careful as July is traditionally the worst month of the year for road fatalities. The average monthly rate is 30 but in the past 10 years an average of 40 have been killed in July.

RSA chief executive Noel Brett said: "During July there are added dangers as more people are travelling to and from sporting, cultural and social events and there are increasing numbers of Irish and foreign visitors touring the country.

In addition school children are on holidays and with the finer weather and longer hours of daylight more people are walking and cycling on the roads."

"So I would urge drivers to slow down, never, ever drink and drive, and expect the unexpected."

The deaths since Friday bring the number of those killed on the State's roads this year to 169, down 33 on last year's figure.

Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell, said: "Sadly the Fianna Fáil Government seems to have lost interest in road safety, which has effectively been shelved in the Programme for Government."

Despite provisional Garda figures today showing that 348 people were arrested for drink driving offences in the last seven days, Ms Mitchell said the impact of mandatory breath testing could be diminishing.

She noted that a new road safety strategy being drafted by the Road Safety Authority had yet to be produced.