Comment: A year of tragedy and heartbreak on our roads

November marked a dark month on our roads as five families' lives were shattered with the loss of five young friends in a horror collision outside Dundalk on 15th November, while just nine days later, two men lost their lives in a multi-vehicle collision in Gormanston that also left two a woman and teenager in a critical condition.

The Dundalk accident was the worst loss of life in a single accident in well over a decade and it was a tragedy that touched many lives and brought untold heartache to communities across the north east including Drumconrath, Ardee and Carrickmacross.

News of the fatal crash involving a Volkswagen Golf and a Toyota Landcruiser on the Ardee Road at Gibstown, Dundalk, rocked the country to its core as it tried to grapple with the enormity of five beautiful young lives cut tragically short. The two occupants of the Landcruiser were also injured.

Alan McCluskey (23) from Drumconrath and his girlfriend, Chloe McGee (23), from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan both died, as well as pals Dylan Commins (23) from Ardee, Shay Duffy (21) Carrickmacross, and Chloe Hipson (21) from Lanarkshire in Scotland who was living in Carrickmacross and attending college in Dundalk. There sixth occupant of the car was miraculously saved after being pulled from the vehicle.

That fatalities not only touched the north Meath village of Drumconrath where Alan McCluskey was a much loved and well respected member of the community but several other Meath communities. Dylan Commins lived in Ardee parish but his home was just out the road from Drumconrath and he was regular in the village with his friend, Alan. Dylan's mother Denise (nee Hoey) is originally from Rathkenny where his grandmother Sheila lives, and Dylan's loss was deeply felt in that community also.

A long week of funerals came as night after night news bulletins carried images of grief stricken families gathering to say farewell to their adored children and siblings. Newly inaugurated President Catherine Connolly attended the four funerals that took place here while many of the families who lost loved ones also travelled to the UK for the funeral of Chloe Hipson.

Just nine days later, two more families were plunged into mourning following the death of a truck driver and a bus driver on the R132/ old N1 near Gormanston. Their death brought to seven the number of lives lost on Meath roads so far this year.

The collision involving Bus Eireann bus, a lorry and a car occurred at peak commuter time, approximately 6.30am, and claimed the lives of the driver of the 101 double-decker bus, Paul Conway and also the driver of the lorry Wesley O'Reilly. The driver of the car, a woman in her forties, and a teenage passenger, also female, were critically injured. Wesley O’Reilly, who was in his late 40s and from Loughshinny, near Skerries, Co Dublin, was a father-of-three and originally from Finglas. Father-of-seven Paul Conway who was in his fifties was from Tallanstown near Ardee, Co Louth.

Other lives lost on Meath roads this year included Edward (Ned) McLoughlin, Doolistown, Trim, an 80-year-old cyclist who died following a hit-and-run collision at Boardsmill on 12th September. Ned was well known for his involvement in athletics in his younger days when he ran all over the country with the Na Fianna Athletic Club. After his running days were over he took up cycling as a hobby and way to keep fit and sadly it was while out on a cycle that he was the victim of a hit-and-run collision that claimed his life.

A man was subsequently charged in connection with the collision and has been before the courts.

Three days earlier, Meath roads claimed the life of a female motorcyclist in her sixties after a collision with a truck near Enfield. The fatal road traffic collision occured on the R148 at Killickaweeny between Enfield and Kilcock, shortly before midday on 8th September.

On 10th July, truck driver Denis Larrissey died in a single-vehicle collision at Ballinderry, Enfield, prompting widespread shock and sadness in the Longwood and Killyon communities and surrounding area.

Just a week earlier, grandmother Elizabeth Guinness died after her car was in collision with a lorry at Platin Terrace, near Drogheda on 3rd July.

The first victim of local roads in 2025 was 24-year-old Glen Smith from Mountnugent, Cavan, who died in a single vehicle collision in the early hours of 4th February, at the Boolies, Oldcastle.

In 2024, eight people lost their lives on Meath roads.