One of the teenagers killed in a car which was travelling the wrong way down the M9 has been laid to rest in a gold coffin.
Joe Carthy was one of five teenagers who died when the car they were travelling involved in a head-on collision with a family travelling in another vehicle on the M9.
He died alongside Jack Kennedy, Alex McCarthy, Jeremy O’Brien and Kamil Pustkowski. A child and three women from the same family, who were in the other car, are being treated for serious injuries in hospital.
Police maintained a presence around Joe’s funeral in Athy, Co Kildare, this morning, with the gold coffin arriving at the church on a white horse-drawn carriage.
Mourners followed the coffin into the church, wearing white T-shirts depicting an image of the boy while others raised framed photographs.
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The priest extended ‘sincere sympathy to Joe’s family’, adding: ‘We gather with sorrow in our hearts.’
Outside the service, a screen displayed pictures and videos while music played. Blue carpet led the way to the church steps, with white flowers placed around the entrance.
A funeral mass for Alex is scheduled to take place in Holy Family Church, Askea, Carlow, on Friday afternoon.
Elsewhere in Carlow on Friday evening, a vigil will be held for three sisters – Ella Hendricken and Niamh and Alma Kinsella – as well as a young boy who were the occupants of the other vehicle.
A fundraiser for the affected family had raised more than 640,000 euro by Friday morning.
Earlier in the week, Ireland’s child and family agency Tusla confirmed one of the deceased teenagers was in its care, while two other boys were ‘known’ to them.
Tusla has committed to sharing information with the independent National Review Panel into deaths or serious incidents involving children known to Tusla or in State care.
Following the crash, Government and opposition politicians have criticised social media companies for failing to restrict or quickly remove content depicting dangerous driving.
Meanwhile, TikTok declined to publicly appear before a parliamentary committee probing online videos of dangerous driving, with the social media giant instead offering a private briefing to lawmakers.
It had been invited to appear before the Oireachtas Media Committee on September 23 to address issues on how it deals with content that ‘glorifies illegal activity’, but has declined the opportunity.
Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan committed to providing An Garda Síochána with ‘whatever resources they require’ to deal with dangerous driving in the wake of the crash – including introducing pursuit-specific training for the first time.
He said Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly will begin implementing the training this year. A decision was taken to instruct gardaí not to pursue the BMW occupied by the teenagers the wrong way down the motorway.
Local gardaí said it had earlier failed to stop for police.
Mr O’Callaghan is also exploring the introduction of a specific offence for deliberately driving against the flow of traffic on a motorway.
However, opposition politicians say the problems in policing dangerous driving stem from issues around recruitment and retention.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy said a ‘failure to address’ Garda numbers is ‘fuelling a community safety crisis’ across the State.
He said: ‘There is a clear shortage of community gardaí and interventions needed to prevent crime before it occurs.’
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