A young boy and his grandparents who were killed in a road crash in Co Tipperary have been named by Irish police.
Thomas O’Reilly, 45, Bridget O’Reilly, 46, and their three-year-old grandson Tom O’Reilly died in the collision in Cashel on Tuesday evening.
The child’s parents, both aged 22, were injured in the crash.
The man is being treated for serious injuries while the woman sustained less serious injuries.
Thomas and Bridget O’Reilly were from the Waller’s Lot area of Cashel.
The crash came days after four young people were killed in a separate road collision in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Garda Superintendent Kieran Ruane said the local community in Cashel was shocked and deeply saddened by Tuesday’s crash.
The single-vehicle collision occurred shortly before 9pm when a car hit a wall in the Windmill-Knockbulloge area of Cashel.
“I want to express my sincere condolences and the sympathies of every member of An Garda Siochana to the family and friends of Thomas, Bridget and Tom on this tragic loss of life,” said Mr Ruane.
He said Garda would investigate all circumstances of the collision.
The officer also commended the response of emergency services to the incident.
“Our local community here in Cashel is shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic road traffic collision involving five members of one family, with three deceased,” he said.
“I have spoken with the family of the deceased this morning, a family that is devastated by this terrible incident.
“I assured the family and I want to assure the community that local gardai here in south Tipperary are here to support them and the community, as we all come to terms with this tragedy over the coming days, weeks and months.
“I want to take the opportunity to appeal to any person with any information on this road traffic collision to contact the investigation team at Cahir Garda station.”
Parish priest Fr Enda Brady said that because the Cashel crash happened so close and so soon after the fatal collision in Clonmel, “it’s just given a totally numb feeling around the town”.
“People don’t know how to put it into words, they don’t know how to express what they’re feeling,” he told PA.
A vigil is to be held in St John the Baptist Church in Cashel at 3pm on Thursday.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar paid tribute to the victims of the latest road tragedy to hit the county of Tipperary.
“My sincere condolences to the friends and family of the people killed in the road incident in Cashel. May they rest in peace,” the Taoiseach posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
”My thoughts are with everyone in Tipperary with this awful news coming so soon after the tragic deaths in Clonmel.”
Mags Casey of the Tipperary Rural Travellers Project said that she has known the family affected by the crash in Cashel for 23 years.
“The Travelling community all over Ireland are shocked, devastated and numb, at this particular point,” she told RTE’s News At One.
In nearby Clonmel on Friday evening, a crash claimed the lives of 24-year-old Luke McSweeney, his 18-year-old sister Grace McSweeney and Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, both also 18.
Mr McSweeney was driving the teenagers to a bus on Friday when the car overturned and crashed into a wall.
The youngsters were on their way to celebrate their Leaving Cert exam results, which they had received earlier on Friday.
Following the Cashel crash, the road in the Windmill-Knockbulloge area remained closed to traffic on Wednesday afternoon, with Garda Forensic Collision Investigators attending the scene to conduct an examination.
Local councillor Declan Burgess expressed his sympathies to the family and also thanked local residents near the crash who were at the scene on Tuesday night.
“Particularly following the tragedy in Clonmel, it’s awful news,” he told PA.
“Our community is struck by another blow, it’s a very upsetting situation, especially with a child involved.
“On behalf of the town, I want to express my deepest condolences to the families affected, Cashel is still trying to cope with this.
“Our thoughts are also with the two people who are still in hospital.
“I want to thank the brilliant first responders who attended the scene, and to thank the residents of the Windmill-Knockbulloge area who were first on the scene.”
Local councillor Roger Kennedy described it as a “terribly sad situation”.
“My sympathies to the family involved,” he said, adding it was tragic “to lose three of the same family”.
“They are a large extended family, they have great support here and there will be great support for them from the community.”
An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation.
Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to contact the investigation team.
Any road users who may have camera or dash-cam footage and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm on Tuesday are asked to make it available to Gardai.
