One person has been taken to hospital following a single vehicle road crash on the M18 in Clare this morning.
The incident resulted in the closure of a section of the motorway, leading to long delays in parts for a time earlier today.
Emergency servies were alerted around 10.30am this morning, after a car was reported to have left the northbound lanes of the carriageway at Carrigoran.
It’s understood the car crashed down an embankment, with a person trapped inside.
Gardaà and National Ambulance Service paramedics responded to the incident, along with units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Shannon and Ennis stations.
Fire crews climbed down the embankment to secure the vehicle, while paramedics began to assess the casualty.
Fire crews used specialist cutting equipment to remove sections of the car, so the patient could be safely recovered.
Fire service personnel and ambulance paramedics carried the stretcher up onto the carriageway to the waiting ambulance and the driver was removed to hospital for further treatment.
Fire crews implemented an Emergency Traffic Management Plan and reopened Lane 2 shortly before midday to allow the significant backlog of traffic to begin to clear.
A vehicle recovery truck attended the incident and efforts began to remove the car from the location and once the crashed car had been recovered and the scene declared safe, the northbound lanes were fully reopened at 12.35pm.
Traffic Infrastructure Ireland (TII) motorway crews also attended the scene.