THREE TEENAGERS were killed in road crashes in Galway, Cork and Limerick over the holiday weekend.
In the latest of the three incidents, a Leaving Cert student from Co Tipperary was killed and two of her friends seriously injured when the car in which they were travelling collided with another vehicle at about 11.30am yesterday.
Claire Prendergast from Dangan, Golden, was killed in the crash outside Portumna in Co Galway.
Her two friends, also from Golden, suffered serious injuries and were being treated at Galway University Hospital last night.
Ms Prendergast, who was a front-seat passenger, was a Leaving Cert student in Cashel Community School.
They were travelling in a Nissan Micra when it was in collision with a Mercedes Benz, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
The four occupants of that car – three generations of one family – were taken to Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
The four – a 71-year-old grandfather, his 38-year-old son and that man’s two children, aged five and one – are from Loughrea, Co Galway.
The crash happened at a bend on the road between Portumna and Killimor.
Driving conditions in the area were poor at the time with rain throughout the night and morning.
The three girls were on their way to Loughrea and had planned to continue to Galway city. They were visiting another friend and former schoolmate from Golden who was in Galway.
Earlier yesterday, a student died when her vehicle crashed in to the gable end of a cottage on the Clonakilty to Dunmanway road in west Cork.
Kate Fleming (18), Barrys Hall, Timoleague, Co Cork, died in the single-vehicle crash at Ahagilla at about 5am. Ms Fleming, who was a first-year law and psychology student at University of Limerick, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her body was removed to Cork University Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
The road where the incident occurred was closed pending an examination by crash team investigators. It is understood conditions were foggy in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Residents in a house across the road from the unoccupied cottage heard the crash and raised the alarm. Efforts were made to revive Ms Fleming.
On Saturday, Richard Browne (19), Balliniska, Feohanagh, Co Limerick, was killed when his car crashed on the N21 near Rathkeale, Co Limerick, at about 8.20am.
Gardaí said the man was travelling alone at the time of the single-vehicle crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for a post-mortem.