Sorrow & shock after M9 horror

THERE is a sense of sorrow around Kildare this week following the senseless deaths of five teenage boys on the M9.

A suspected stolen black BMW carrying the five teenagers was driven down the M9 in the wrong direction, speeding into an oncoming Hyundai, seriously injuring three adult sisters and a young child in the early hours of Sunday morning (16 August).

The teens have been named as Joe Carthy (15) and Jack Kennedy (17), both from Athy, Joe’s cousin Alex McCarthy (17) and Jeremy O’Brien (17), who both lived in Carlow.

The fifth deceased occupant of the car was named as Kamil Pustkowski, believed to be 17 years old, who had spent time living in Limerick and Dublin.

A local person known to some of the families, who wished to remain anonymous, said the deaths were a tragedy despite the ‘‘ultimate blame’’ lying with the boys and rejected suggestions that the group was an organised crime gang, describing them instead as “chaotic teenagers driven by TikTok likes” and “the rush of the chase.” The local also condemned people who had sought out the boys’ social media accounts to leave hostile comments since their deaths, asking: ‘‘What adult searches out a dead child’s social media account to leave a hateful comment?’’ One of the deceased, Joe Carthy of Clonmullion, was a member of St Michael’s Boxing Club in Athy since he was 10 years of age, following his older brothers and sisters into the club.

“He was a typical young lad, improving all the time, then for this to happen…” said Dom O’Rourke from the club.

“It’s a shock for the whole club. He had his two brothers and sisters who boxed for the club; both of the sisters fought for Irish titles underage.

“On behalf of St Michael’s Boxing Club, we would like to offer condolences to all involved. This is devastating.” According to reports, the BMW was on its second such manoeuvre after gardaí in a patrol car had earlier requested the vehicle to stop at about 2am in Athy, but the driver sped off.

During their first period driving into oncoming traffic on the M9, the BMW did a U-turn and came off the motorway, going into a service station in the Kilcullen area.

The vehicle then turned at that station and drove back onto the M9, southward, on the northbound carriageway.

Gardaí had deployed stinger devices that puncture car tyres off the motorway, around the Junction 3 off-ramp at Moone.

However, rather than exit the M9 there, the BMW continued, crashing into a Hyundai carrying three sisters in their 20s and 30s from Carlow and the seven-year-old son of one of those women.

The women and child were making their way to Dublin Airport, to travel to Britain for a family wedding, when they were struck head-on.

The two women in their 30s, the driver and front-seat passenger, were in a critical condition in Tallaght General Hospital.

The female rear-seat passenger, aged in her 20s, was taken to St Luke’s General Hospital and is in a serious condition, while the child has been taken to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin, where the boy’s condition was described as “serious.” The bodies of the five teenagers were taken to Naas General Hospital for postmortems.

“It’s shocking, shocking,” said Athy councillor Aoife Breslin.

“People around the town are devastated, and obviously the sympathy goes out to the families.

“It’s a tragic loss of lives that never needed to be lost.

“There is an air of sorrow around Athy at the moment, because there was a lot of Athy connections.

“Such a tragic loss of life is shocking.

“I saw the Athy Fire Brigade coming back into town after attending the scene, and you just know they had seen terrible things. They would be in my thoughts as well.

“I hope the community can really rally round,” she said.

Fellow Labour councillor cllr Mark Leigh added: “It has been a dark weekend for Athy.” Groups of young men are increasingly engaging in joyriding and crime sprees in Dublin and surrounding counties such as Kildare.

Kildare South TD Mark Wall said that his thoughts are with those who remain in hospital and their families in the wake of the fatal crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction that took place in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Speaking to the Kildare Nationalist, Deputy Wall called for action to be taken to prevent the circulation of videos of illegal and reckless driving: “There is an urgent need for government action to tackle the dangerous trend of videos of illegal and criminal behaviour being posted and circulated on social media”.

He continued: “This tragedy must be a final wake-up call. Government must engage with social media platforms and regulators to ensure videos which glorify or encourage dangerous criminal behaviour are removed quickly and are not allowed to spread unchecked”.

The Labour Party TD said that his thoughts are with those who remain in hospital and their families. He thanked the first responders and emergency services for their work at the scene of the collision.

He also expressed his “deepest sympathies” with the families of the five teenage boys who died, saying that “no families should ever have to receive this devastating news”.

Garda Commissioner Jason Kelly also hit out at those who drive down motorways the wrong way, saying it was “appalling” and often done for social media “likes” – a reference to joyriders recording themselves for sharing on social media platforms.

Mr Kelly said the “horrific incident shows how irresponsible and dangerous driving on the wrong side of the motorway is”.

“What makes this reckless behaviour even more appalling is that, in some cases, it is being done for social media likes regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves,” he said.

While “gardaí do what they can to stop such vehicles”, other road users had to be taken into consideration and interventions were “really challenging”, he said.

Gardaí believe the BMW was driven on to the wrong side of the M9 because the driver was trying to evade gardaí and likely knew Garda patrol cars in the area would not be allowed to pursue them driving against traffic.

Gardaí had reports of males, believed to be teenagers, seen attempting to break into houses and cars parked outside homes in Athy in the hours before the fatal crash. Gardaí believe the males spotted in Athy were the same group later killed on the motorway.

It is understood gardaí were not actively pursuing the BMW at the time of the crash.

“I know some of the families affected and I sincerely wish none of them were experiencing this unimaginable pain,” said former Mayor of Athy Thomas Redmond.

“Five young lives have been lost, while another family has had its life changed in an instant.

“But compassion cannot prevent us from having a difficult conversation about extremely reckless behaviour.

“Driving the wrong way on a motorway puts completely innocent people in mortal danger.

“We also need to examine the wider culture of bravado and social media which can encourage young people to take greater and greater risks for attention and approval.

“Social media did not start the car, and it did not teach anyone to drive, but we cannot ignore the role that an online audience and the desire for recognition can sometimes play in escalating dangerous behaviour among young people.

“Nobody wanted five young people to die. Nobody wants five families grieving their children.

“Equally, nobody should have to fear that an innocent journey with their family could end in catastrophe because of somebody else’s reckless actions,” he said.