‘This can’t go on. It must be sorted out’

POLITICIANS and community leaders in Co Donegal have called for immediate action to prevent further road deaths in an area of the county where 17 young people have died in the past 18 months.

It follows a weekend in which six young people were killed in two accidents on the Inishowen peninsula.

Five close friends lost their lives in one accident between Quigley’s Point and Carndonagh on Saturday morning, on a weekend in which eight people died on Irish roads.

The latest tragedies have prompted calls for a separate road strategy for the Buncrana area as 17 young people from Inishowen have been killed in accidents since January 2004.

The weekend accident figures brings the total number of people killed on Irish roads so far this year to 301 - a level similar to the same time in 2004.

New EU figures show that Ireland recorded the worst road safety record in western Europe last year. Road fatalities in the Republic rose by over 13% in 2004 in contrast to a 7% average decrease in the rest of the EU.

Donegal TD, Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan, said of the six deaths: “It’s a travesty for the families themselves. We must support them in their time of need and certainly we’ll have to evaluate what can be done to educate young people so they don’t find themselves in these tragic circumstances.”

Mayor of Buncrana, Cllr Pádraig MacLochlainn, said: “This can’t go on. It’s devastating the local community. It must be sorted out.”