FIVE PEOPLE were killed on the roads over the weekend bringing the number of such fatalities this year to date to 175. The equivalent figure up to December 9th last year was 212.
Separately, a woman (62) died in a house fire at Ballina, Co Mayo, early yesterday morning.
Two of the weekend road deaths also took place in Co Mayo. Sandra Herbert (40) and her daughter Rachel (14) were in the front of the family car when it skidded on ice and flipped upside down into a stream at about 9pm on Friday night at Rathduff near Ballina. Both died from drowning.
Three teenage girls who were in the back seat of the car managed to escape and raise the alarm.
Mrs Herbert, who worked at the offices of the Road Safety Authority in Ballina, was driving Rachel and three of her friends to a disco. The two victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí in Waterford have named the 28-year-old man killed in a collision on Friday morning at Corbally More, between Tramore and Dunmore East, as Brian Walsh from Waterford city. The single-vehicle crash happened shortly before 9am.
In Donegal, a man in his 50s was killed in a crash on the Redcastle to Moville road at about 4.35pm on Friday. The man’s car collided with a 4X4 vehicle. The male driver of the 4X4 was injured and taken to hospital.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is seeking witnesses to a fatal crash at Curraghmore near Birr in Co Offaly which took place at about 5.35am on Friday. It involved a blue Mercedes Sprinter van and a black Nissan Almera. Witnesses are asked to call 1890 600 800.
The 62-year-old widow who died as a result of a house fire in Ballina, Co Mayo, early yesterday has been named locally as Ann Hallinan. She lived at Convent Hill Crescent and died from smoke inhalation.
Gardaí are investigating the incident.