Cork road fatality the 35th of 2024

A Garda on duty at the scene of a ffatal road traffic collision which occured in the early hours of Sunday morning at Rathanker near Passage West, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

A man in his 20s became the 35th person to die on Irish roads so far this year on Sunday following a crash in Cork, one of several serious collisions on Irish roads yesterday.

Two other people were rushed to Cork University Hospital following the single-car crash in Rathanker near Passage West in Cork at around 2.30am yesterday.

The victim was named locally as Ricky Barry (23). The young man suffered fatal injuries in the collision while the other occupants of the car received injuries described as non life-threatening.

It was another weekend marked by serious incidents on Irish roads, with a cyclist in his 60s suffering serious injuries following a collision involving a car in Co Meath on Sunday.

Separately, a 10-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital after he was struck by a vehicle in Shannon, Clare on Sunday afternoon. The child was transported by ambulance and then by helicopter to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.

“Everyone around the community is shocked and saddened by what’s happened,” said local Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath. “It’s terribly sad and tragic a young life is lost in such circumstances."

Local independent councillor Marcia D’Alton said the community as a whole was “devastated” for the family and friends of the young man who died.

“We were aware of it in the community from an early stage on Sunday, it’s just so sad,” she said. “All road deaths are a tragedy, but in cases with young people with their lives in front of them, it’s just horrific.” 

This incident brings to 35 the total number of deaths so far this year on Irish roads. This is a small increase on the same time in 2023, which was in itself a year when roads deaths in Ireland surged.

According to research from the Road Safety Authority, the highest risk age among those travelling on Irish roads in 2023 was the 16-25 age group. This age group represented over a quarter of all road deaths, 48 fatalities in all. This was an increase of 23 deaths from a year prior.

These latest incidents come after a series of devastating incidents across the country in recent weeks. Last week, two young men were killed in a crash in Limerick while a 19-year-old man died in a separate incident in Sligo.

Earlier this month, a 15-year-old girl died in a road crash in Tipperary while, on 31 January, two men in their 20s and a teenage girl died in a road crash in Carlow.

Reacting to the latest incident, Minister of State Jack Chambers said: "It was terrible to see another very young person lose their life on the road this weekend. It's been a bad start the year. The trend is very concerning."

Mr Chambers is to appear before the Transport Committee later this week to progress the Road Traffic Bill and said he hopes to bring it back to the Dáil quickly.

He has written to Garda Commission Drew Harris in recent weeks stressing the importance of enforcement of current laws and the urgent need to improve numbers in roads policing units, which have been falling in recent years rather than increasing.

"The key focus has to be strengthened enforcement," he said.

"One of the big reforms this year will be a camera-based enforcement strategy. There's a plan for a number of static and average speed cameras being rolled out by the gardaí."

He pointed to a number of other measures, including the application of multiple penalty points for multiple offences at once, which he hopes will also lead to improved road safety.