Irish Examiner view: Caution as Christmas rush reaches top gear

Traffic on the South Link Road in Cork shortly after 8.30am on Tuesday. Picture: Denis Minihane.

This week of the year sees some of the busiest days for travel in Ireland, with families on the move all across the country to reach various destinations before Christmas Day. Earlier this week, there were repeated warnings, for instance, that those using public transport needed to pre-book their seats if at all possible — such was the level of demand with Christmas Day looming large on the horizon.

It is also one of the busiest weeks on our roads, with many people packing their cars and setting off to see relatives and friends. This makes it all the more disheartening to read about the number of cars caught speeding this week on National Slow Down Day, which began at midnight yesterday.

Almost 150 vehicles were detected by gardaí driving faster than the speed limit on National Slow Down Day, including a driver travelling at 139km/h in a 60km/h zone in Wicklow, and another driving at 119km/h in a 50km/h zone in Dublin 14.

A Garda spokesperson made it quite plain: “Excessive speed reduces a driver’s ability to respond to unexpected
hazards and increases the likelihood of losing control, which can result in serious or fatal collisions.

“Speeding can have devastating consequences — not just for the driver, but for other innocent road users. The faster a vehicle is travelling, the more severe the impact in the event of a collision.”

Sadly, we are all well aware of just how dangerous our roads are. At the time of writing, six more people had died on the roads in the preceding week, bringing the total number of fatalities for 2025 to 186 so far — which means the country is on course to record a significantly higher death toll on the roads for 2025 than 2024, when 167 people lost their lives.

As reported here, senior gardaí are “very worried” by the surge in arrests of people driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol, and that “people are not listening” to the Christmas road safety campaign.

It may be an unseasonably sombre note to strike, but all of us need to take more care on the roads throughout this holiday season.

A strong link between two countries

Last Friday evening, a man lost his life in a terrible accident in East Cork.

Joice Thomas died after an accident occurred on the R628 Conna Rd while he made his way home in heavy rain from the Ballincurrig nursing home in Leamlara, East Cork, with his car ending up in the River Bride. The 34-year-old had started working at the home only two months ago.

Mr Thomas was originally from Kambammettu in Kerala, India, which is where his funeral service and burial is to take place, but a Mass of solidarity was also held at Ballynoe Church this week in support of his friends and family. Mr Thomas is survived by his wife and two young children.

The people of Ballynoe should be acknowledged for their gesture of support of the Thomas family, and the support of those in the area and beyond has also been seen in more tangible ways. A GoFundMe page set up over the weekend to help the family and to pay for the cost of bringing his remains back to India for burial had raised over €93,000 at the time of writing.

There has long been a strong link between Cork and India when it comes to dealing with adversity, going all the way back to the Air India bombing of 1985: The care shown to the memorial to that disaster, located at village of Ahakista in West Cork, is testament to that link.

It is encouraging to see that this tradition endures, and support is being offered again 40 years later in a practical and immediate way.

Given the increasing numbers of Indian people living in Ireland, this is a welcome indication of mutual respect and aid between different communities on the island. At a time when some are trying to foment discord and distrust in this country, it is doubly welcome.

Goodbye to a timeless voice

Christmas has many specific traditions and associations, such as the various musical genres associated with the season. Whether that means church hymns or Christmas carols, there are plenty of songs which are never heard outside these couple of weeks of the year, and often they are celebrated less for their musical brilliance than the wealth of memories associated with them.

Hence the particular sadness at the passing of British musician Chris Rea on Monday at the age of 74. Rea had a string of hits in the 70s and 80s, and readers with long memories may remember songs such as Fool (If You Think It’s Over) and I Can Hear Your Heartbeat delivered in Rea’s trademark growl.

However, even those immune to the joys of late-70s soft rock will be familiar with one of his best-known songs, Driving Home For Christmas, a staple of radio playlists ever since its release back in 1988.

Years later, Rea gave an account of how he had written the song: Stuck in traffic with his wife at Christmas time, he noticed how miserable the other motorists were and began to jot down lyrics.

For many readers trying to wrestle their cars into shopping centres this week, those words surely resonate. Rest in peace.

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