TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said his thoughts are with the victims of yesterday’s crash on the M9 in Kildare and that there can be “no tolerance” for “reckless” driving. 

He said he was “shocked and saddened” by the incident in which five teenage boys were killed after the car they were travelling in, which was being driven the wrong direction on the motorway, collided with another.

The BMW, which gardaí suspect was stolen, collided with a Hyundai carrying three women and a 7-year-old boy. All were taken to hospital and are in conditions ranging from serious to critical.

It is the second incident in the space of little over a week involving a car being driven the wrong way down an Irish motorway. 

On 9 August, a car carrying eight teenagers was driven the wrong way down the M50 and collided with another vehicle, which was being driven by a man in his 20s.

“This is the second appalling crash we’ve seen on our roads in a matter of days as a result of the reckless driving of a car on the wrong side of the motorway, endangering the lives of innocent road users,” the Taoiseach said.

“As the Garda Commissioner has said, it is an irresponsible and dangerous act and it is shocking that in some cases it is being done for likes on social media.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the family who have been injured. I wish them a full recovery.

“The lives of five teenagers have also been lost as a result. Every death on our roads brings untold grief to families and communities,” he added.

“There can be no tolerance for this reckless behaviour that we have seen on our roads recently. It must stop.”

Martin said he will be speaking to the Minister for Justice and to the gardaí in relation to the two incidents.

“I also want to thank the first responders who carried out their work in what was a devastating scene,” he said.

Minister’s response ‘not good enough’, say opposition

Meanwhile, reacting to yesterday’s incident, Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson Matt Carthy said urgent action is now needed to crack down on the danger posed by stolen vehicles being driven “recklessly on our roads”. 

Carthy said the two recent incidents highlight a “very serious and growing threat to public safety”.

“What occurred on the M9 over the weekend was horrific. The loss of five lives and the fact that members of an innocent family have been left critically injured is shocking,” he said.

The Cavan Monaghan TD said it is “not good enough” that the minister of state with responsibility for road safety, Seán Canney, said he is waiting for gardaí to tell him what support they need to better respond to these sorts of incidents.

“The gardaí have been very clear that they need the training and resources to tackle this criminal activity,” Carthy said.

Social Democrats justice spokesperson Gary Gannon was also critical of Canney for saying he was waiting for direction from the gardaí.

“They have been telling government what they need for months,” Gannon said.

He noted that the Garda Representative Association (GRA) called months ago for specialist pursuit training and has been explicit that no member of An Garda Síochána has been provided with a “specialist pursuit skill-set”.

“Only weeks ago, the Garda Commissioner was before the Oireachtas Justice Committee. During that engagement, I was told that additional pursuit training would not be available until next year, with garda resources being diverted in part towards preparations for Ireland’s EU Presidency.

“⁠That is an extraordinary set of priorities. Ireland has obligations arising from the EU Presidency, but that cannot come at the expense of giving gardaí the operational training needed to deal with dangerous drivers…Gardaí need the ability to respond today,” Gannon said. 

Meanwhile, Carthy added that there are not enough roads policing gardaí to tackle dangerous driving, vehicle theft and organised criminal activity on the roads.

“Shockingly, the number of gardaí involved in Roads Policing Units has dropped by nearly 40% since 2009, decreasing from 1,046 in 2009 to just 645 in March of this year,” he said.

‘normalisation of behaviour’

Gannon and Carthy both said the incidents reflect a deeper issue in society related to youth offences. 

“We need to place a much greater emphasis on prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation. That requires sustained investment in community policing, youth diversion programmes, youth services, family supports and measures such as the Bail Supervision Scheme,” Carthy said. 

Gannon said there is a “growing normalisation of this kind of dangerous and violent behaviour among very young teenage boys”.

“If we continue this approach of not investing properly in early intervention, youth services and supports for young people most at risk of being drawn into criminality, then we will keep arriving at the same point after the damage has already been done.

“We need to be able to respond firmly when people are putting lives at risk, but we also need to do far more to stop children being pulled into that world in the first place,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said more needs to be done by social media companies.

He, Gannon and Carthy all agreed that social media giants need to be held to account for facilitating the publication and sharing of videos showing illegal behaviour.

Tóibín said the practice of driving on the wrong side of motorways for “social media clicks” will have “shocked people to the core”.  

The Meath West TD called on the government to meet with the social media companies to urge them to stop the sharing of such videos.

“Videos are regularly posted on social media showing criminal activity. Even when they are reported to the social media companies, they are not removed. They remain up getting likes, clicks and comments. We even see teenagers post updates of their criminal behaviours,” Tóibín said. 

Gannon agreed that this sort of content is “rampant” on social media and also called for the government and gardaí to engage with the social media companies. 

Tóibín also suggested that wrong-way driving alerts could be implemented on motorway signs to alert people of cars being driven the wrong way.

“There are also one-way tyre deflation devices that can be implemented for people driving down the wrong way on off ramps,” he said.

“Personal responsibility needs also to be enforced. On the general issue of wrong-way driving, it is potentially a life-destroying action and individuals who partake in or encourage the action need to take direct responsibility for the enormous damage that they are doing,” he said.