THE SON of former Fianna Fáil MEP Mark Killilea died yesterday when his car collided with a fence in north Galway.
Mark Killilea (29) is believed to have been killed instantly in the single-vehicle incident at Lissyconnor, on the R362 road between Dunmore and Glennamaddy, Co Galway.
Gardaí said that the incident occurred sometime before 6.20am, when it was discovered by a passing motorist.
Mr Killilea’s car had left the road and crashed into fencing.
Emergency services were alerted and Mr Killilea was taken by ambulance to Roscommon General Hospital.
He was pronounced dead shortly after admission.
Gardaí closed the section of road for technical examination yesterday, and appealed for any witnesses to come forward.
Mr Killilea, who was single, was a carpenter.
He was one of eight children – four sons and four daughters – of former MEP Mark Killilea and his wife Anne.
It is understood that Mr Killilea jnr worked in Glennamaddy.
Tuam-based former Fianna Fáil MEP, TD and senator Mark Killilea has been a leading figure in politics in east Galway and Connacht since the 1970s, when he came to national prominence.
He served as minister of state at the former Department of Post and Telegraphs from 1979.
He was nominated to succeed former Fianna Fáil MEP and former finance minister Ray MacSharry in Europe in 1987 and retained his seat at the European Parliament.
He retired from politics 10 years ago, but remains a close friend of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and has spent time with Mr Cowen during holidays in the west.
The Killilea family was being comforted at their home in Belclare, Tuam, Co Galway yesterday.
Mark Killilea jnr was described by a local Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Reilly as a “mighty, mighty young man”.
The fatality brought to four the number of people who died on Irish roads over the bank holiday weekend.
Two men, aged 19 and 21, were killed on Saturday morning when the car in which they were travelling hit a wall at Newtowncunningham on the main Letterkenny to Derry road in Co Donegal.
A man in his late 20s died in a motorcycle crash at De Selby Estate in Tallaght at about 3am on Saturday.
Three people died in road collisions during last year’s May bank holiday weekend.