Girl (3) killed in Portlaoise road crash is named locally

A three-year-old girl who died after being hit by a car in Co Laois on Wednesday has been named as Rosaleen (Rosie) McDonagh.

The incident occurred at Cosby Avenue in the Fairgreen residential area of Portlaoise at about 1.15pm.

Gardaí said the girl had been seriously injured during the collision and was taken to Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, where she was later pronounced dead. The scene was preserved for a technical examination.

Locals have been offering their support to the girl’s family. In a social media post, her aunt Marylou McCarthy wrote: “Rest in peace to my beautiful niece Rosaleen, my whole life you were. You’re with the angels now..” Rosie is survived by her parents Bernard and Victoria, and five sisters.

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Portlaoise parish priest Monsignor John Byrne said people had been deeply affected by the what is the latest in a series of road fatalities involving young people. “I think the whole country has been mourning the tragic news that has been coming out of Tipperary with the tragic deaths of Leaving Cert pupils in Clonmel and the tragic death of a three-year-old child and his grandparents in Cashel. Now we have the death of another three-year-old child. This is very sad.”

Meanwhile, new legislation to lower speed limits, particularly in urban areas, will be brought before Cabinet early in September, Minster for Transport Eamon Ryan has said.

Mr Ryan said that a commitment to introduce new limits, including new 30kph limits in urban areas, formed part of the Programme for Government.

He said he and the Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, Jack Chambers, would be bringing the memo to Government “within the next few weeks”.

Mr Ryan made the remarks on Thursday while responding to the large number of fatalities which have occurred on Irish roads in the past week. Four young people, Luke and Grace McSweeney, Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, died in Clonmel on Friday. Three-year-old child Tom O’Reilly and his grandparents Tom and Bridgie O’Reilly, were killed in Cashel, Co Tipperary on Tuesday.

“It is heart-breaking. Obviously my first thought is for the families of those who died in Clonmel and their friends, as well as those who died in Cashel [and Portlaoise]. The whole country was traumatised by that sense of grief and the tragic circumstances.

Mr Ryan said there was an onus on the Government to respond to the increase in fatalities on the roads. He said he would be meeting with the Road Safety Authority this week to get its perspective.