Girl, 15, killed as she waited for a lift

A FIFTEEN-year-old girl who died in a crash over the weekend was struck by a car driven by a 23-year-old man later arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

Kathy Byrne would have celebrated her 16th birthday next week. She and a second woman were struck by the car as they waited for a lift home from a nightclub.

She was one of three people, all under 30 years of age, who died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Just the weekend previous, eight people died on Irish roads with the six of the deaths in two accidents in County Donegal. The latest tragedy took place when Ms Byrne was on the roadside at Ryland Road, Bunclody, Co Wexford, waiting for a lift to Tullowhill, Tullow, Co Carlow. She stood out from the wall when she saw a car but it failed to stop. It struck her and another girl.

The driver, a local man, was arrested near the scene and taken to Gorey Garda Station where he was detained on suspicion of drink driving. He was later released on bail and is due before Enniscorthy District Court on Wednesday.

Kathy Byrne was the only girl in a family of five. Her parents are well-known Carlow business people.

In a separate accident an hour and a half earlier, one of two Polish men in their 20s who were taken to Beaumont Hospital following a crash at Skerries Road, Rush, Co Dublin, died. The passenger died in hospital and the driver remains in a serious condition after their car struck a wall.

The third victim of weekend tragedies was 19-year-old Colm Cooper, who was killed when the car he was driving crashed close to his home at Drumbarragh, Kells, Co Meath, shortly after 3am.

The weekend fatalities bring the tally of road traffic deaths this year to 310.