An investigation is continuing into the circumstances of a crash that claimed the lives of five young people near Dundalk in Co Louth on Saturday night.
Communities in the northeast are in mourning following the incident.
Louth County Council has opened books of condolence following the road crash.
Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council Cllr Seán Kelly, Cathaoirleach of Ardee Municipal District Cllr Dolores Minogue and Chief Executive David Conway opened the first book of condolence at the Civic Offices in Ardee, where members of the public can pay their respects from tomorrow morning.
“The entire county is heartbroken by this devastating tragedy,” said Cllr Kelly.
“At a time when people start thinking about the joys of Christmas, the loss of five precious lives has cast a deep shadow over our community. The pain their families are enduring is beyond words, and we hold them close in our hearts at this incredibly sad time,” he said.
“I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the first responders, including the Louth County Council Fire and Rescue Service, the gardaÃ, and ambulance crews, who faced a challenging scene with professionalism and compassion. Their dedication and courage in the most challenging circumstances deserve our deepest respect and gratitude.”
There is a “sense of devastation” and “palpable grief” in Co Louth, local priests have said.
Prayers were said in St Joseph’s Church in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, where Monsignor Shane McCaughey told the congregation that a veil of sadness had descended on the community.
Two of the five people who died were from the Carrickmacross area.
Three other people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Prayers were said for a full recovery of those injured, as well as the first responders who came on the scene.
The Ardee Road at Gibstown in Dundalk was closed overnight but has since reopened following a technical examination of the scene.
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The two vehicles involved were taken away and it is expected that post-mortem examinations will be carried out over the coming days.
They have been named as: 23-year-old Chloe McGee, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan; Alan McCluskey, aged 23, from Drumconrath, Co Meath; 23-year-old Dylan Commins, from Ardee, Co Louth; Shay Duffy, aged 21, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan; and 21-year-old Chloe Hipson from Lanarkshire in Scotland.
Dylan Commins was one of five people who died in the crash
Earlier, Msgr McCaughey said there was “palpable grief” across the communities affected by the crash.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: “There is just a sense of devastation, this palpable grief that is right across our communities this morning, yesterday.
“It has just been a terrible experience for the families involved.”
Monsignor McCaughey knows the family of Ms McGee and he described them as “salt of the earth”.
“I spent some time with them yesterday afternoon and evening. I have to say this it was the first time that I actually witnessed a family collapsing,” he said.
He said that when the family saw the image of their daughter on the Six One News, “you could actually see a family collapsing in front of you”.
“It was the most terrible experience to witness such unrelenting grief. A cry from the heart of parents and siblings and friends who were with us in the house at that stage,” he said.
Monsignor McCaughey said Ms McGee had made “such a huge success of her life.”
“She really, really stuck hard at it and she achieved her dream to be a teacher,” he added.
Chloe McGee was a teacher at Ó Fiaich College in Dundalk
The principal of the school where Ms McGee taught said pupils had experienced an “incredible shock”.
Padraig McGovern of Ó Fiaich College, Dundalk, was speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster and said: “To think that we’re going to school today and she won’t be there is an incredible shock.
“And to convey that to students, to young people who find it difficult to process something, or even more difficult than we do, is just a major challenge.”
In a Facebook post, Patrician High School in Carrickmacross said: “It is with deep sadness that our school community has learned of the tragic passing of two of our past pupils, Alan McCluskey and Shay Duffy.
“Alan and Shay will be remembered fondly by all who knew them during their time at our school, and their loss is felt profoundly by staff, students, and the wider school community.
“We also extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Ms Chloe McGee, who spent a year with us completing her teacher training. Chloe made a lasting impression on our school and students through her dedication and warmth, and we are deeply saddened by this news.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and friends affected by this heartbreaking event. We stand in solidarity with you during this time of grief and offer our deepest sympathies.”
‘Grief beyond description’ in community after fatal Dundalk crash
Fr Finian Connaughton, parish priest of Drumconrath, said he knew Mr McCluskey and his family very well.
Speaking on the same programme, he said: “I would have known Alan from his very earliest days – given him his first Communion, Confirmation, and I know the family, a very regular attender at church, it would have to be said.
“Alan and his family are very much involved here in the parish, so it was devastation to hear that news.”
Tributes were paid to Alan McCluskey
Fr Connaughton said he was conscious that the community was grieving “so severely”, but added that he was aware the McCluskeys were just one of five families who are suffering the same grief.
“I’d offer my condolences and sympathy to them, but our community here, absolutely it is beyond description the sense of grief that is around,” he added.
Fr Connaughton said it was a “very close-knit community” and the McCluskeys are very “community-minded people”.
A garda at the scene on the L3168 just outside Dundalk, Co Louth
He said: “There are very few things going in the community centre that the McCluskeys are not involved in. I know community will rally round at this time, as they’ve done in the past.”
The group of friends, that included a couple, were believed to be travelling to a location to socialise when the crash occurred.
Another man in his 20s, who was travelling in the Volkswagen Golf, was taken to hospital in Drogheda with non-life-threatening injuries.
The two people in the Toyota Land Cruiser, a man and a woman who are also in their 20s, were taken to hospital in Drogheda with non-life-threatening injuries.
Following examinations at the scene by State Pathologist Linda Mulligan, both vehicles were removed from to a secure location shortly after 6pm yesterday.
Watch: An atmosphere of shock’ – Carrickmacross locals on fatal Dundalk crash
Tributes paid to DkIT students
Tributes have been paid to Scottish student Chloe Hipson, who moved to Ireland to study after graduating from South Lanarkshire College in East Kilbride.
She was a Second Year Quantity Surveying student at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).
A book of condolence has been opened at DkIT for Chloe Hipson
DkIT President Dr Diarmuid O’Callaghan said the college community is heartbroken and that many of those involved in the tragedy have deep ties to the college.
Mr Duffy had recently completed Phase 6 of a Plumbing Apprenticeship and Ms McGee worked with DkIT on the TY Entrepreneurship Programme.
Dr O’Callaghan also expressed his condolences to the friends and family of Mr Cluskey and Mr Commins.
A book of condolence has been opened at DkIT for Ms Hipson.
A number of amateur football teams in Lanarkshire also offered their condolences to Ms Hipson’s family.
North Motherwell FC, where her brother Ryan Hipson was a veteran player, said they would be holding a minute’s silence.
The club said: “Ryan you and your family have always held a special place in the hearts of everyone at NMFC and are very much still part of our football family, I am sure everyone will join me in sending our deepest condolences to you, Toni, Ryan, wee Tommy and all your family at this life-shattering time.”
Bellshill Amateurs FC posted on social media: “The club was devastated today to learn of the passing of Chloe Hipson, the younger sister of our own Ryan Hipson.
“Our thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathies are with Ryan and his family at this incredibly difficult time. Before our game on Saturday, we will show our respects to Chloe with a minute’s applause prior to kick-off.”
Friends also posted tributes on social media, with one describing her as “absolutely one of a kind, the funniest, most gorgeous girl in the land.”
Shay Duffy had completed Phase 6 of a Plumbing Apprenticeship at DkIT
Mr Duffy and Mr McCluskey were past students at Patrician High School in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, while Ms McGee spent a year there completing her teacher training.
The school paid tribute to their past pupils, saying they will be “remembered fondly by all who knew them during their time at our school, and their loss is felt profoundly by staff, students, and the wider school community”.
They added in a statement on social media: “Chloe made a lasting impression on our school and students through her dedication and warmth, and we are deeply saddened by this news.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and friends affected by this heartbreaking event. We stand in solidarity with you during this time of grief and offer our deepest sympathies.”
‘Numb and shock’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the country is numb and shocked by the scale of the tragedy that has unfolded and the impact on the families and friends of the five young people who died is devastating.
Speaking in Co Kerry, Mr Martin said: “It’s very, very difficult to comprehend such loss and at such scale in our community.
“We think of all those who are suffering and bereaved today.”
The Taoiseach also paid tribute to the first responders who had attended the scene and who, he said, had witnessed “absolutely shocking and traumatic scenes”.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families,” Mr Martin said. “You only have to think about the parents when they received the news.
“Those young people were going for a night out and were probably full of the joys of life and that it was cruelly extinguished in that manner is very hard to comprehend. That will take a very long time to deal with, that trauma.”
‘Terrible air of depression, sadness and grief’
Monsignor Shane McCaughey of Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, said the ‘enormity of five young lives lost, the potential of what they could have been, the lives that they were lying out in front of them to be wiped out – it’s beyond words’.
Garda investigations ongoing
Superintendent Charlie Armstrong, of Dundalk Garda Station, described the scene as “difficult” and commended first responders and other services.
Speaking on Morning Ireland he said: “It was a difficult scene, the weather conditions were adverse, it was a dark night, wet and windy and again I’d like to commend the professionalism of all services that attended there.”
Supt Armstrong said first responders who attend such scenes “see things that you can’t unsee – the uniform is not a shield for that”.
He said those officers finished duty at 7am yesterday and were back working last night.
Supt Armstrong said they were given the option to be replaced by colleagues, but they wanted to return to service.
He added that family liaison officers had been assigned to the families affected.
He said a senior investigating officer was appointed at Dundalk Garda Station, and an incident room was established.
“We will be investigating all circumstances in relation to the road traffic collision currently, the scene is still preserved, vehicles have been removed from the scene, and we are currently conducting a search.
“The forensic collision investigation unit came down and provided assistance and have technically examined the scene, but our investigations are still ongoing,” he said.
Gardaà are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the crash or may have dash cam footage from the area between 8.30pm and 9.15pm on Saturday night to contact Dundalk Garda Station on 042 938 8400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
Additional reporting Laura Hogan, Samantha Libreri, Paschal Sheehy, PA