An inquest into the death of three people in a road crash in Co Laois last summer has concluded that it was tiredness rather than speed and reckless behaviour that caused the accident.
Those who died were Tom Frewen, 22, his sister Mary, 19, and 21-year-old Paul Geary, all with addresses in the Mitchelstown area.
A fourth passenger in the car, Patrick Brannock from Lismore in Waterford survived the accident.
They were travelling from the Oxygen Festival at Punchestown, Co Kildare, on 10 July last year when their car collided with a truck on the N8 between Portlaoise and Abbeyleix.
Giving evidence the driver of the lorry, Edward Ward from Wexford, said he was travelling on the N8 when he saw a green Toyota Corolla travelling towards him turning into his path and straightening up on the wrong side of the road. He tried to brake and swerve to avoid the car, but ended up in a head-on collision.
Mr Brannock told the inquest how he and his friend had spent the weekend in tents at the music event and that there had been a lot of drinking each night, with Paul Geary finishing up at around 5am on the morning of Monday 10 July.
He said they had a couple of hours sleep later that morning. He said Mr Geary seemed fine at the wheel on the car journey home and that he had the window and sunroof open. The next thing he knew he was being taken by ambulance to hospital in Portlaoise and flitting in and out of consciousness.
Laois County Coroner Eugene O'Connor said this was an unfortunate tragedy which occurred due to tiredness on the day and was a lesson to everyone.
