Playing Russian Roulette on Our Motorways. Episode 863

Niall Boylan is joined by columnist and journalist Brenda Power to discuss the horrific M9 crash that has left five teenagers dead and four innocent members of one family seriously injured, including a seven year old boy.

The latest information suggests the five teenagers were travelling in a stolen BMW and had allegedly been involved in attempted burglaries and car break ins in the Athy area earlier that night. Gardaí had tried to stop the car at around 2am, but it sped away. Investigators believe the BMW then travelled the wrong way along the M9 on two separate occasions before eventually crashing head on into a Hyundai carrying three sisters and the young son of one of the women. Two of the women remain in a critical condition, while the third woman and child are seriously injured. Gardaí were not pursuing the BMW at the moment of impact.

The tragedy comes just eight days after another stolen car carrying nine teenagers travelled the wrong way on the M50 and crashed into an innocent motorist. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has warned that some drivers are deliberately engaging in this behaviour for social media attention, describing it as reckless and devastating.

The Garda Representative Association is now calling for proper pursuit training, saying Gardaí are effectively “damned if they do and damned if they don’t”. The GRA says no Garda currently receives specific pursuit training and that deliberately driving against motorway traffic to evade Gardaí amounts to playing Russian roulette with people’s lives.

Niall asks Brenda whether the law now needs to change. Should specially trained Gardaí be given greater legal protection and additional powers to forcibly stop a vehicle being deliberately driven the wrong way down a motorway?

Or would allowing Gardaí to ram or force such vehicles off the road create an even greater risk to innocent motorists?

And after two terrifying incidents in little more than a week, have we reached the point where doing nothing is potentially more dangerous than allowing Gardaí to intervene?