TD for Cavan-Monaghan Matt Carthy has paid tribute to five young people who died in a collision in Co. Louth at the weekend.
Gardaí are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the fatal road traffic collision that occurred near Dundalk on Saturday (November 15) shortly after 9:00p.m.
The scene at the R3168 has been examined by garda forensic collision investigators.
Local traffic diversions were put in place to facilitate further examinations of the scene, which are expected to take place today (Monday, November 17).
The incident involved two vehicles, one of which was a Volkswagen Golf. Five of the six occupants of that car have died.
Their names are: Chloe McGee (23) from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan; Alan McCluskey (23) from Drumconrath, Co. Meath; Dillon Commins (23) from Drumconrath, Shay Duffy (21) from Carrickmacross; and Chloe Hipson (21) from Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The sixth occupant of that car (a male in his 20s), as well as the two occupants of the other vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser (a male and female in their 20s) are receiving treatment in hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
Some of those killed in the accident are understood to have been involved in the farming and agri-business communities.
Speaking to Agriland, Deputy Matt Carthy said: “The thing that struck me about the young people who were killed was that they were all successful in their own right for young people.
“They would be what I described as hard-working young country people.
“Chloe [McGee] was a permanent teacher at just 23, somebody who would have been well known for working on her farm.
“Shay [Duffy] was a plumber, he was qualified; Alan [McCluskey] a fencer, would have been known across rural communities; and then apparently Dylan Commins was the man to talk to about anything to do with cars, he was a top-class mechanic,” Carthy said.
He added: “I didn’t know Chloe Hipson but the five of them together, the thing that has struck me around Carrickmacross is any young person that I was speaking to over the past couple of days knew them all.
“They were very well known, very well liked and much loved young people, and their loss has impacted a huge number of people,” he continued.
“Obviously there is the immediate family, but then you take into consideration cousins, a wide circle of friends, work colleagues, you can see the impact of this is felt far and wide,” Carthy said.
It’s understood one of the deceased, Chloe McGee, often took part in livestock showing.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio today, Monsignor Shane McCaughey, a local priest in the Carrickmacross area, said: “Chloe had made such a huge success of her life. She came through the Leaving Cert and the early days of college life during Covid lockdown, and all that that entailed, but she really really stuck hard at it.
“She achieved her dream to be a teacher, and she had just recently been appointed a permanent teacher.
“She was just so highly regarded there, and so highly regarded everywhere. She belongs to a farming family, and she was very much at home on the farm.
“Her pride and joy was to present bullocks or heifers at the local shows and at national shows across the country.”
Fr. Finian Connaughton, parish priest of Drumconrath in Co. Meath, where Alan McCluskey was from, also spoke on RTÉ about the tragedy and the passing of Alan.
Fr. Connaughton said: “Alan was one of those lads who was very well got in the area, a lovely young fella going about his business.
“He was an extremely hard working chap, worked with his dad at the business, a fencing business.
“He was more than anxious to head his own business and looked like a man who was on the verge of doing precisely that,” Fr. Connaughton said.
Investigation
An Garda Síochána is continuing to investigate the incident and has made the following appeals for information to any people:
- Who have any information on this fatal road traffic collision;
- Who were travelling on the L3168 between 8:30p.m and 9:15p.m on Saturday night;
- Who might have camera footage or images from the road in the Gibstown area between those times.
Anyone with information or camera footage/images that may aid the garda investigation is asked to contact the investigating team at Dundalk Garda Station on 042 938 8400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
