The death of five people on Irish roads over the weekend has been described as 'absolutely tragic'.
A young man in his 20s died in a crash in Navan, County Meath shortly before 10pm yesterday.
Earlier on Sunday, two men died in a motorcycle crash on the R195 road at Bellaney, County Meath.
A 14-year-old boy also passed away after an e-scooter crash in Kilkenny on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Cork, a man died in the early hours of Saturday after the car he was travelling in crashed near Kinsale.
Sinn Fein TD for Meath-West Johnny Guirke told Lunchtime Live he knew those involved in the Bellaney crash.
"I knew the two lads well, two lovely lads," he said. "It happened about a mile from my own house.
"I was just after watching the Armagh-Galway game; it just shows, you went from such excitement for the Armagh supporters and then I looked out the window and there's Garda car flying by my house with the lights on".
Deputy Guirke said those who attended the scene would have known the victims.
"It's very sad for the families, very sad for the town of Oldcastle," he said.
"Everybody would have known these lads... even the fire service from Old Castle [which] would have attended that accident - and every single one of those lads on the fire service would have known those two lads".
'More resources'
Deputy Guirke said Ireland’s road death numbers are "skyrocketing".
"There's so many people dying on the roads," he said.
“It looked for a while there that we might have been getting on top of it a couple of years ago [but] over last year - the year before and this year so far - the numbers are skyrocketing.
"I don't know what needs to be done but definitely more resources need to be put into it.
"You need to see what the cause of these accidents are and see can it be addressed."
Deputy Guirke said the solution is likely a multi-tier approach.
"Nobody knows what the reasons for these recent accidents were... but there is far too many people dying on our roads," he said.
"Whether it's more enforcement, more speed vans, more Gardaí - whatever it is.
"I know in Meath we have the lowest number of Gardaí per head of population in the country and that has always been an issue I've constantly raised in the Dáil".
Love 30
Love 30 campaign spokesperson Mairéad Forsythe said the group welcomes the lowering of speed limits – but they need to be enforced.
"We know that there was new legislation passed earlier in the year, which we welcome whole-heartedly, to reduce the default limit in urban areas to 30km/h and on rural roads from 80 to 60km/h," she said.
"Councillors around the country have begun a review process to review the speed limits with a view to complying with the new legislation.
"It's worth pointing out that a huge proportion of road deaths are on our rural roads where there's a current speed limit of 80km/h.
"We welcome that that's being reduced to 60km/h; but there's no point in reducing the speed limit unless it's observed.
"Drivers have to be aware that speeding is one of the major factors in road deaths and crashes".
'Absolutely tragic'
Meath Chronicle News Editor John Donohue said it has been a "devastating" time.
"The news was just coming through yesterday evening of the fatalities in Oldcastle and we could hear the sirens going around the town here in Navan," he said.
"Unfortunately, this morning we woke up to the news of a young man killed outside the town here on the Trim Road as well.
"It has been absolutely tragic for those families and for the people involved.
"It's coming on the back of a week where we've seen three funerals in the county already from incidents and accidents on the roads."
Mr Donohue added that it has been "a sad week all around".
