Five people have died and three people have been seriously injured following separate road traffic collisions across the country this morning.
In Co Kilkenny, two women died in a collision between an articulated truck and several other vehicles. Another woman, a man and a teenage girl were also hurt. They were taken to St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny.
Gardaí named the victims later as Vanessa McGarry (31) of Butler's Grove, Gowran and Mary Lonergan (49) of Kellymount, Paulstown, also in Co Kilkenny.
The crash happened on the N9 at Sugarstown, around three kilometres south of Thomastown, shortly after 9.30am.
Emergency services are at the scene, and gardaí have advised motorists that the N9 is closed and is not expected to reopen before 6pm this evening.
Motorists travelling between Dublin and Waterford should travel via Kilkenny or another route.
In Dublin a pedestrian died after he was hit by a truck on Whitefriar Street, shortly after 10am. His identity has not been released.
A motorcyclist (37) also died following a collision with a car on the Merrion Road at around 7:45am this morning. He was taken to St Vincent's Hospital where he died later from his injuries.
The driver of the car was not injured.
In Co Galway a man (18) was killed this morning when his car hit a tree at Clonbrock on the Ahascragh to Caltra road at around 6.00am.
The dead man was taken to hospital in Ballinasloe.
A total of 189 people have died on the State's roads so far this year, compared to 229 over the same period in 2006.