Two men in their 30s have died in separate road crashes in counties Kerry and Longford over the weekend.
One of the deceased has been named locally as Francis Kelly, a father of young children from Longford Town.
He was killed in a collision involving two cars and a van on the N4 near Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, at about 7pm on Saturday night.
A second man who was injured in the crash was taken to hospital for treatment.
Mr Kelly’s partner and his friends and family members have paid tribute to him on social media, sharing photographs taken of him with loved ones during the Christmas celebrations.
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses and are asking motorists with dash cam footage who were travelling in the area between 6.30pm and 7.15pm to make it available to them.
Later on Saturday night, a collision at Headford, Co Kerry, claimed the life of another man whose car hit a tree.
The single vehicle crash on the L3013 at Knockdooragh, Headford, happened at about 11.20pm and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí are also appealing for the public’s help with their investigation, asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or who were in the area and has camera or dashcam footage, to contact them.
The deaths were the first two road fatalities of 2026 in the Republic and come after a year when 190 people died on the roads, the highest figure in over a decade.
A man in his 80s also died in a single-vehicle crash in Co Antrim on Saturday.
The PSNI said the collision, which involved a red Ford Kuga Titanium car, happened at about 2.35pm in the Carnbore Road area of Bushmills.
PSNI officers and members of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene.
The man was taken to hospital where he died a short time later.
The PSNI has asked for any witnesses, or anyone with footage of the area, to contact the Collision Investigation Unit.
Yellow warnings for snow, ice and low temperatures were in place across the whole island overnight, with the thermometer forecast to dip as low as -6 degrees as the cold snap continues.
Met Éireann warned of “treacherous conditions”, with sharp or severe frost, icy stretches and black ice in places.
Fog was expected on Monday morning, with freezing fog in places, said the forecaster. There was predicted to be some lying snow in places too, mainly across north and northwest counties.
Difficult conditions were expected to persist into the first full week of January, with slightly warmer daytime temperatures later in the week.