TRIBUTES have been paid to two students who were killed when the car they were travelling in hit a wall in Co. Limerick.
Named locally as 20-year-old Darragh Dullea from Cork, and 19-year-old Cillian Kirwan from Kilkenny, the pair were students at Salesian Agricultural College, who were undertaking a machinery course run jointly with the Technological University Shannon.
They died when the car they were passengers in collided with a wall on the N69 at Ballyengland, near Askeaton, Co Limerick at around 7.25pm on Tuesday, February 20,
The driver and another passenger, both aged in their late teens and fellow students at the College, are receiving treatment in hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, College principal Derek O’Donoghue said its staff and students were left “numb following the tragic accident”.
“All occupants were not alone students here in Salesian Agricultural College, on the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Higher Cert in Agricultural Mechanisation course, but were also residential which is an even tighter student body,” he explained.
“TUS student counselling support services are currently here in the college meeting students and staff,” he added.
“I would like to send my condolences to the families of the two students that have tragically lost their lives, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and their friends and classmates, and I also wish the two students who are in hospital a speedy recovery.”
Piltown AFC, the boyhood soccer club of Cillian Kirwan, have also paid tribute, describing the tragic teenager as “a very happy pleasant boy to coach with an abundance of talent and great commitment”.
Their deaths bring the number of people to die on Irish roads this year to 32.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.
“Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and who were travelling in the area at the time, are asked to make this footage available to Gardaí,” they state.
“Anyone with any information is asked to contact Askeaton Garda Station 061 601630 or any Garda station.”