'Devastating': Hundreds take part in vigils for five young people who died in Co Louth crash

A vigil at Sean McDermott's GFC in Mountrush, Ardee, Co Louth — one of three such events in Louth, Meath, and Monaghan to remember the five young people who died in the crash in Co Louth on Saturday night. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

Hundreds of people have taken part in vigils to remember five young people who died in a crash in Co Louth.

Three separate vigils were arranged in Ardee, Co Louth; Drumconrath, Co Meath; and Aughnamullen, Co Monaghan; to pay tribute to the deceased on Tuesday night.

The victims in the crash were: Chloe McGee, 23, and Shay Duffy, 21, both from Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan; Alan McCluskey, 23, from Drumconrath in Co Meath; Dylan Commins, 23, from Ardee in Co Louth; and Chloe Hipson, 21, from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Chloe McGee, 23, and Shay Duffy, 21, from Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan; Alan McCluskey, 23, from Drumconrath in Co Meath; Dylan Commins, 23, from Ardee in Co Louth, and Chloe Hipson, 21, from Lanarkshire in Scotland were remembered at vigils on Tuesday night.  

At Drumconrath Gaelic Football Club, hundreds gathered with candles and mobile flashlights for a vigil on a cold, dark, and windy night.

The club's flag was flown at half mast as prayers were offered to the McCluskey family, the others injured and killed in the crash, as well as the emergency services who responded to the scene.

Some of those gathered wiped away tears as songs were played in tribute to those affected while the congregation also said a decade of the rosary.

Ava Sheridan, a cousin of Chloe McGee, and other close friends and relatives at Aughnamullen Sarsfields GAA Club in Co Monaghan for Tuesday night's candlelit vigil for 23-year-old Chloe and the four other young people who died in the collision on the Ardee Road, near Dundalk on Saturday night. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Fr Finian Connaughton told the Drumconrath gathering that they were just "one community of five communities in a state of shock".

He said that while people may feel that there is nothing that can be done, this is not true, as the community coming together was an expression of support to those affected.

He said he was confident that the McCluskeys and other affected families are "very well aware" that people are gathering and praying for them.

A table carrying photographs of Alan McCluskey was also on display.

Participants in the vigil at Drumconrath GFC, Co Meath, in honour of the five young people who lost their lives in the two-vehicle crash in Co Louth on Saturday night. Picture: Cillian Sherlock/PA

Hundreds more gathered at the back of Sean McDermott's GFC in Ardee, where Rev Dermot Clarke, Deacon Parish of Haggardstown and Blackrock, was in attendance and led the candlelight service.

Meanwhile, gardaí continue to investigate all the circumstances behind the crash and issued a renewed witness appeal.

The five were travelling together in a Volkswagen Golf while on their way to Dundalk for a night out when they died in the crash on Saturday.

A sixth person who was in the car, also aged in his 20s, was taken to hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

Two other people were also injured in what gardaí described as a "shocking and devastating" crash.

The incident happened on a road near Dundalk just after 9pm.

Autopsies of the deceased have now been completed, and their remains have been released to their families.

The sixth occupant of the Volkswagen Golf, a man in his 20s, has been discharged from hospital.

The two occupants of the Toyota Landcruiser, a man and a woman in their 20s, remain in hospital where they continue to receive medical treatment for non-life threatening injuries.