{"id":595010,"date":"2026-08-16T12:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595010\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T12:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:38:10","slug":"several-deaths-after-collision-involving-car-driving-wrong-way-on-m9-motorway-in-kildare-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595010\/","title":{"rendered":"Several deaths after collision involving car driving wrong way on M9 motorway in Kildare \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garda\u00ed<\/a> fear up to four people have been killed in a crash on a motorway in Co Kildare<\/a> when one of the two vehicles involved was driven the wrong way down the M9 and collided with another car carrying four people. <\/p>\n

Two other people, women in their 30s, have been left in a critical condition while another woman (20s) and a child are also in hospital in a serious condition. The three women and child, all in one car, are believed to be members of the same family. The car was driving the correct way on the motorway. It is understood they may have been in their way to Dublin Airport at the time.<\/p>\n

The remains of the dead, who were all in the other vehicle, were still in that car early on Sunday at the scene on the motorway and garda\u00ed have not yet confirmed how many people have died. <\/p>\n

As a Garda operation was under way early on Sunday to track the vehicle travelling the wrong way down the motorway, the policing watchdog agency Fiosr\u00fa has been informed and has launched an investigation.<\/p>\n

The crash occurred on the M9 at junction 3 northbound, near Moone, at about 3am.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarda\u00ed and emergency services were alerted to a vehicle travelling southbound on the northbound carriageway of the M9,\u201d Garda headquarters confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vehicle was driving on the M9 between junction 3 and 4 when a head-on collision occurred with a second car. A number of fatalities have occurred and no further details are available at this time.\u201d <\/p>\n

The garda\u00ed added the driver and front seat passenger in one of the vehicles, both women in their 30s, were taken from the scene by ambulance. They were being treated at Tallaght University Hospital and both were described as being in critical condition. <\/p>\n

\u201cA female rear seat passenger, aged in her 20s was taken to St Luke\u2019s General Hospital and is in a serious condition,\u201d the garda\u00ed added. \u201cA young child was also in the back seat at the time of the crash and has been taken to Children\u2019s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin, where their condition was described as serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The M9 from junction 3 to junction 4, northbound and southbound, remained closed early on Sunday with diversions in place. A forensic examination of the crash scene was also due to take place.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scene on the M9 northbound at Junction 3 in Co Kildare, where a number of people have died and others have been seriously injured after a collision between two cars. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed have appealed for any road users travelling on the M9, in either direction, between 2am and 3am, to contact the investigating team in Athy Garda station. They are especially keen to hear from motorists who were recording dashcam footage at the time.<\/p>\n

Fiosr\u00fa has become involved in the case following a referral by the garda\u00ed, which must alert the agency to any incident involving the serious injury or death of any person at or around the time they died or were injured.<\/p>\n

However, although the garda\u00ed were aware of the vehicle driving down the motorway, it was unclear if any pursuit of that vehicle had taken place at any time early on Sunday morning. It appears the vehicle was not being pursued on the M9 at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of Fiosr\u00fa\u2019s on call team of investigators attended the scene and its independent investigation is ongoing,\u201d said the agency. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn line with its statutory remit, Fiosr\u00fa\u2019s investigation relates to incidents involving contact with garda\u00ed where a member of the public has died or been seriously injured. A referral does not necessarily mean a garda or garda\u00ed have been accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, it means that Fiosr\u00fa should independently investigate the incident to ascertain whether or not the act or omission of a garda or garda\u00ed may have resulted in the death of, or serious harm to, a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday morning\u2019s crash was the second time in eight days a serious crash occurred when a car was driven on to a motorway against traffic.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, nine people were injured when a stolen car crashed into an oncoming vehicle on the M50 at junction 12 near Firhouse, south Dublin. The vehicle, designed to seat five, was carrying nine teenagers and one of them, aged 13 years, was seriously injured.<\/p>\n

That car, a Toyota Yaris, had been stolen earlier in Rathmines, south Dublin. <\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed were aware of it, and had been tracking its movements, in the period before it crashed into the other car, driven by a man in his 20s, on the M50. Because of the Garda involvement in the period before that crash at 5.30am, Fiosr\u00fa is also investigating that incident.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Car involved in M50 crash that left nine in hospital was stolen before incidentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed fear up to four people have been killed in a crash on a motorway in Co Kildare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1346,61,60,3770,43],"class_list":["post-595010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-garda-siochana","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kildare","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}