Six lives lost in one of the worst weekends of year on roads

SIX people died and five were injured in a weekend of carnage on Irish roads.

A 70-year-old pedestrian was knocked down by a van in Athlone on Saturday night, bringing to six the number killed in one of the blackest weekends of the year for traffic-related accidents.

Earlier on Saturday a motorcyclist was killed in a crash in Co Meath. The motorcyclist, believed to have been in his 20s, was killed when his bike collided with another vehicle between Trim and Navan at around 5pm on Saturday. A female pillion passenger was injured in the same crash.

In the north a man in his late 20s was killed in an accident in Castlewellan, Co Down.

The accident happened on Saturday night and no other vehicles were involved.

Three other people died in separate incidents earlier on Saturday. In Co Clare, gardaí investigating a fatal crash on the main Ennis to Limerick Road, in which a 68-year-old man died, arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with the incident. He is due to appear at Ennis District Court on Friday next. The man was arrested at the scene of the accident, which claimed the life of well-known businessman John Cahill, 68, from Gort Co Galway.

Mr Cahill’s family run a timber and builders providers business at Coole Park, near Gort.

It emerged last night that the same man was allegedly involved in another collision on a busy Ennis street only minutes before the fatal crash.

A 45-year-old woman was killed when the car she was driving was in collision with a lorry in Co Down on Saturday.

It happened four miles north of Newry on the main Belfast road. A number of other people were taken to hospital.

In Dublin a 19-year-old woman was killed when she was hit by a car. Marie Ann Costelloe died after she was knocked down on Clonsilla Road at about 2.30am on Saturday.

Five people were taken to hospital following a three-car collision on the M1 in north Dublin.

The accident happened on a stretch of road between the Donabate flyover and the airport roundabout at around 10.15am yesterday.

Gardaí arrested a man and questioned him at Santry Garda Station. A file on the matter is being sent to the DPP.

Serious traffic delays were experienced on the M1 as emergency crews attempted to clear debris from the road.