Man (19) dies in inner city quad bike race

An annual Christmas Day quad bike run through inner-city parts of Dublin has been deplored by a local councillor after a fatal crash.

Nial Ring said the death of the young man (19) was an accident waiting to happen.

“The tragic death of a youth on Ballybough Road today and two other serious incidents on Sheriff Street came as no surprise to community leaders and councillors,” the north inner-city councillor said.

“At both the North Wall forum last week and the central area policing forum held the week before in civic offices, myself, Cllr Christy Burke and Gerry Fay of the North Wall residents association brought the issue of the now annual quad bike scourge to the attention of the gardaí.

“For the past six years we have asked that this activity, which starts at about 1am on Christmas morning, be stopped,” Mr Ring added.

“Today we have seen the result of the ‘let them have their fun on Christmas Day’ lobby and a young man , whose family are well known to me, is dead.”

Another youth was knocked unconscious and a seven-year-old boy was injured when he hit a wall in the course of the quad bike run, Mr Ring said.