THE YOUNGER brother of Ireland South Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley was killed in a road crash at Old Chapel outside Bandon in Co Cork yesterday.
The single-vehicle incident happened in icy conditions shortly after noon when a Chrysler people carrier driven by Flor Crowley struck a ditch.
Mr Crowley (42), who is from the Timoleague side of Bandon, was accompanied in the car by his wife Aideen and the couple’s three children. The family was believed to be en route to Mass when the incident occurred.
Mr Crowley was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was taken to Cork University Hospital.
Flor Crowley worked as an accountant with Impact Training in Maryborough in Cork city.
His father Flor Crowley snr, who died in 1997, served as a TD and Senator for Cork constituencies in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
A woman was also killed in a car crash in Co Offaly yesterday, bringing the total number of people killed on Irish roads so far this year to 240. The 31-year-old woman died in a road crash at about 8.40am in Durrow. The car she was driving crashed into a tree on the N52 Tullamore to Kilbeggan Road.
In Lissycasey, near Ennis, Co Clare, local farmer Patrick Kelly died after his jeep rolled down a steep hill after losing traction on an icy road. Mr Kelly, a married father of six, died on Saturday. His vehicle was found at the bottom of a hill after a large search.
An ambulance responding to the incident lost control and left the road a short distance from the scene. Local people assisted gardaí and ambulance personnel, carrying them and their equipment through rough terrain to the scene.
Meanwhile, another local farmer, Thomas Meere, who is in his 70s, sustained a head injury in a fall at his home on St Stephen’s Day. Mr Meere is understood to have slipped and fallen backwards on ice.
He was rushed to hospital in Limerick where he remained on a life support machine last night.
An 86-year-old pedestrian was killed on Christmas Eve after he was hit by a lorry in the village of Ardfert, Co Kerry.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was taken to Tralee General Hospital for postmortem.