Two people have been killed and two others injured in separate crashes in Cork and Westmeath.
A man in his 50s died when the van in which he was a passenger collided with a lorry outside Mullingar at about 5.30pm yesterday. The driver of the van and another passenger were taken to Mullingar General Hospital, but their injuries were not serious. The driver of the lorry escaped uninjured.
The crash happened at the junction of the Ring Road in Mullingar and the N52. The road was closed off for a time and diversions were put in place.
In Cork city, gardaí have appealed for witnesses to an incident in which a 79-year-old woman was fatally injured when she was knocked down by a refuse truck while crossing Patrick Street.
Gardaí believe the woman was crossing from the western side of Patrick Street to the eastern side near the junction with pedestrianised Winthrop Street when the fatal collision happened just before midday.
The woman, named locally as Cissie Yelverton from Gurranabraher Road, was attended to by the emergency services but was pronounced dead at the scene. Her body was later removed to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem today.
Gardaí spoke to the driver of the privately-owned refuse truck and took a statement from him and two helpers, who were also in the vehicle.
They have appealed to anyone who may have seen the incident to contact them at Anglesea Street station on 021-452-2000.
The collision led to major traffic disruption in Cork city yesterday afternoon, as Patrick Street remained closed to traffic for about three hours.
Yesterday's incidents bring the number of people killed on the roads this month to 17.