Tragic Teen Crash Victim Buried Today

The first funeral of the teenage victims killed in a car crash outside Killarney in Co Kerry earlier this week is to take place today.

The service for 15-year-old Aine Riordan will take place in her hometown of Castleisland this morning. Her funeral will be the first of four over the next two days.

This morning, Gardaí said the sole survivor of the single vehicle crash in which four Kerry teenagers lost their lives has yet to be interviewed about the circumstances of the collision at a well-known black spot.

Darragh Jones (16), from Farranfore, is in a stable condition and reported to be improving at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee.

Supt Michael Maher of Killarney Garda station said gardaí were waiting for the approval of the hospital authorities before interviewing Mr Jones.

The stretch of road on which the four died had been identified by Gardaí as a notorious accident blackspot. The Garda National Traffic Bureau have marked the N72 between Killarney and Barraduff on the official list of collision-prone zones.

Four fatal collisions had occurred on the same road stretch over the past 10 years.

Brothers David, 17, and Kevin Breen, 15 from Hazelwood Drive, Ballyspillane, Killarney, and Áine O’Riordan, 15, from St John’s Park, Castleisland, all died at the scene, while Brian Coffey who was 19-years-old, from Crohane, Fossa, died later in hospital.

Speaking this morning in response to the tragedy, Labour's Spokesman on Transport Joe Costello said the incident was a tragedy of "immense proportions".

"I would like to extend my sympathies to the families of those who have died and to the family of the young man who survived the crash and who remains hospitalised. My thoughts are also with the communities in Killarney, Castleisland & Farranfore where I am sure many people, especially the young, are grief stricken.

"It is a devastating blow to any community to lose four young people in such a tragic manner and I am sure that many families all around the country were deeply affected by their deaths."

(DW/BMcC)