The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and a number of local representatives have expressed their condolences following the deaths of three people – including a young child – in a road crash near Cashel in Co Tipperary last night.
Two grandparents in their 40s and their grandson died after the car they were passengers in hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area at around 9pm.
They have been named as 46-year-old Bridget O'Reilly, 45-year-old Thomas O'Reilly and their grandson Tom O'Reilly.
The boy's parents are being treated in hospital for serious injuries. His father, aged in his 20s, was driving the car, while his mother, also in her 20s, was the front seat passenger.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said his "thoughts are with everyone in Tipperary with this awful news coming so soon after the tragic deaths in Clonmel".
Tánaiste Micheál Martin described the crash as a "devastating loss of life".
"The enormous sense of shock and grief in the community is shared by people across the country," he said.
He added: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who have suffered so much, their neighbours and friends."
Cathaoirleach for the Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District Cllr Declan Burgess said that the community was "pure numb" just a few days following the tragedy in nearby Clonmel.
"Tipperary has been struck by yet another very serious blow, and the community feels this very much at the moment and it's truly upsetting," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, he said the incident was "hard to comprehend at the moment", adding that Cashel "is trying to cope and navigate through this situation".
"It’s an awful result and something we didn’t expect so soon after Clonmel, the two towns are only 20 mins away from each other, we are well connected so when the community down there had their heartbreaking news a couple of days ago, it was the last thing on our mind’s that we’d have a similar situation a couple of days later".
He added that the family involved in the crash were a well-known Cashel family. He explained that the road where the incident happened is about 2.5km outside the town centre.
He described Cashel as a proud town and said that it makes it even more heartbreaking for the community, and it’s very hard to deal with a situation like this.
He said that road fatalities are becoming too frequent at the moment and there will need to be a national conversation on road safety.
Independent TD for Tipperary Michael Lowry said there is an enormous sense of shock in the area.
Writing on Facebook, he said that his thoughts and prayers are with the relatives of those involved "as they receive this devastating news."
Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne said the family involved were local to Cashel.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said: "They have been all their life here in Cashel, all their families would have been known around the town. It's just harrowing and we send our condolences to the families".
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the crash was devastating not just for the family but for the wider community
"We have had a really difficult few weeks when it comes to our roads with the number of tragedies.
"There are a lot of families grieving but it is important as well that working with the gardaí we understand, and we find out what has happened, and obviously that we do whatever we can to prevent these types of accidents happening, but our thoughts are with these families at this truly awful time for them".
Call for urgent measures to reverse upward trend in road deaths
Separately, the Chair of the Road Safety Authority has said urgent measures are needed to reverse an upward trend in the number of road fatalities this year.
Speaking this morning Liz O'Donnell said that there have been 124 people killed on Irish roads this year, up 25 on last year, and averaging 15 people dying per month. She said that 30 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 have died this year meaning over a quarter of the fatalities are young people.
She expressed her condolences to the families and the friends and the entire community of Tipperary in having to comprehend last night’s crash so soon after the trauma of last week’s crash in Clonmel.
She said that everyone has been reeling for the last week, as there has been an appalling escalation in road fatalities.
Ms O’Donnell said there has been a high increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities, and that vulnerable road users such as cyclists need to be protected.
She said that a national conversation was needed and called on the minister for transport to do so as quickly as possible and for all Oireachtas members to support that.
"We need urgent measures now to reverse this trend in road fatalities because we know we could be up to 180 people killed this year. These are preventable deaths and it's in all of our hands and in our capacity to do this.
