Gardaí have released the names of two more victims of road crashes over the weekend that separately killed eight men between the ages of 18 and 30.
Mr Adrian McGinty (25) from Convoy, Co Donegal, died when the car in which he was travelling left the road at Castlefinn, Co Donegal at about 2.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Mr McGinty was the second man to die in an accident in Castlefinn at the weekend. Mr Brian Geary (18), a backseat passenger in a car, died when the car crashed at Gortnamuck, Castlefinn, at 2.30 a.m. on Saturday.
A motorcyclist who died in an accident in Dundalk, on Saturday evening, was named by gardaí this morning as Mr Shane Gartland (18) from Donoughmore, Dundalk.
The others who died over the weekend were Mr Graham Walsh (21) from Rosslare Strand, Co Wexford, who died when his motorbike hit a signpost near Rosslare on Saturday morning and Mr David Fowler (29) and Mr Patrick Dowling (27), who died when their vehicle was in an accident at Blakestown Road, Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, shortly before 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Two men in their twenties who died just before midnight on Saturday when their car went out of control at Taylors Hill, Salthill, Co Galway, have not yet been named. Gardaí said only one of the names is expected to be released.
The weekend was the worst one for road deaths this year.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme today, the chairman of the National Safety Council, Mr Eddie Shaw, said the gardaí needed adequate technology to enforce road safety and change driver behaviour.
The number of road deaths so far this year is significantly up on the first quarter of 2003. Some 95 people had died on the roads in the three months to March as of this morning. A total of 74 people died over the same period last year. So far this year, drivers make up the highest proportion of deaths, followed by pedestrians, passengers and motorcyclists.
The Government is to launch a new three-year road safety strategy shortly, with the objective of reducing road deaths by a quarter.