Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)

I echo the words of many of my colleagues here today because the tragic news from my home town and home county, County Louth, and the neighbouring counties over the weekend has shaken us all to the core - five young people, with their whole lives ahead of them, gone in the blink of an eye. They were the same age as my own children and my heart breaks for the parents of those beautiful young adults who had so much to look forward to. I agree with my colleague who said your heart is in your mouth every time your children leave the house. Unfortunately, for these families, the unspeakable happened.

I want to honour their memory by reading their names into the record: Chloe McGee, aged 23, from Carrickmacross; Alan McCluskey, also 23, from Drumconrath; Dylan Commins, aged 23, from Ardee; Shay Duffy, just 21, from Carrickmacross; and Chloe Hipson, also 21, from Lanarkshire in Scotland. To their parents, families, friends and, of course, the wider communities, I am so deeply, deeply sorry. Their grief is unimaginable. I hope they can feel the love, the support and, of course, the solidarity of people right across Louth, Meath and Monaghan and the world who are holding them in their hearts.

Of course, I want to acknowledge as well the first responders and the emergency services at the scene and the doctors and the nurses in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda who did everything humanly possible in the most traumatic of circumstances. Their care, compassion and professionalism deserve all our gratitude. I also want to mention the chaplains who stood beside families and emergency workers offering comfort in moments when words simply could not be enough.

This tragedy must also prompt action. I am calling for a debate in this House on strengthening road safety, particularly on our B roads and our minor rural roads which so many young people travel and rely on every day.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse.