An inquest into to the death of two people in a Cork crash has been told that one driver was going the wrong way on a dual carriageway and had almost twice the then legal limit of alcohol in her system.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded in the deaths of both 25-year-old Aoife Callanan from Ballincollig, Co Cork and 17-year-old John Joe Galvin from Co Wexford.
Both died when the cars they were driving collided on the N25 in March of last year.
Several witnesses told the Coroner's Court that just after midnight on 18 March they saw a silver Toyota Corolla, being driven by Aoife Callanan, going the wrong way down the Cork to Midleton dual-carriageway between the Dunkettle interchange and Little Island.
Witness Eddie Mulryan told how he had been overtaken by a blue Volkswagen Golf van, which was being driven by Mr Galvin.
He said he saw the silver car coming from the opposite direction in the same lane as the van and knew they were going to crash.
A work colleague of Ms Callanan, William Clancy, told the court how they had gone for a couple of drinks after work in a hotel on St Patrick's Day.
He said Ms Callanan had then dropped him home after they had had a few more drinks in the city centre shortly before midnight.
Nicholas Eli, who was seriously injured in the crash, told the court that he and Mr Galvin were on their way to a car rally in west Cork, but he has no recollection of the impact.
Investigating gardaí told the court that they had been unable to work out how Ms Callanan had ended up on the wrong carriageway.
Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the court that both died instantly from their injuries and that Ms Callanan had a blood alcohol level almost twice the then legal limit.
A verdict of accidental death was returned by the jury.
Coroner Frank O'Connell remarked that Ms Callanan never realised she was travelling the wrong way and because of this mistake, two lives were lost.
