Five families have been left devastated following a two-vehicle crash in County Louth that has left five young people dead.
The accident occurred on Saturday evening when a Volkswagen Golf was in collision with a Toyota Land Cruiser on the Ardee Road after 9 p.m.
Those who died were: 23-year-old Chloe McGee from Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan; Alan McCluskey, 23, from Drumconrath, Co Meath; Dylan Commins, 23, from Ardee in Co Louth; Shay Duffy, 21, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan; and Chloe Hipson, 21, from Lanarkshire in Scotland.
Speaking on RTÉ Monsignor Shane McCaughey, who on Monday led prayers at St. Joseph’s Church in Carrickmacross, said: “There is just a sense of devastation, this palpable grief that is right across our communities this morning, yesterday.
“It has just been a terrible experience for the families involved.”
Monsignor McCaughey said he had spent time with the McGee family, whom he knows personally.
“I spent some time with them yesterday afternoon and evening,” he said. “I have to say this, it was the first time that I actually witnessed a family collapsing.”
He added: “It was the most terrible experience to witness such unrelenting grief. A cry from the heart of parents and siblings and friends who were with us in the house at that stage.”
The monsignor said Ms. McGee had made a “huge success of her life”.
“She really, really stuck hard at it and she achieved her dream to be a teacher,” he said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Superintendent Charlie Armstrong of Dundalk Garda Station said: “It was a difficult scene, the weather conditions were adverse, it was a dark night, wet and windy and again I’d like to commend the professionalism of all services that attended there.”
Is a statement President Cathering Connolly said: “As President of Ireland, I am deeply saddened and shocked by the loss of five precious young lives in Louth last night. I am thinking of them, their families and of those injured. May I acknowledge also all those first responders who have worked to support all involved.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the country was numb and shocked by the scale of the tragedy that had unfolded and the impact on the families and friends of the five young people who died was devastating.
Speaking in County Kerry, Mr. Martin said: "It's very, very difficult to comprehend such loss and at such scale in our community. We think of all those who are suffering and bereaved today."
The taoiseach, according to RTÉ, also paid tribute to the first responders who had attended the scene and who, he said, had witnessed "absolutely shocking and traumatic scenes."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families," Mr Martin said. "You only have to think about the parents when they received the news.
"Those young people were going for a night out and were probably full of the joys of life and that it was cruelly extinguished in that manner is very hard to comprehend. That will take a very long time to deal with, that trauma."
Sinn Féin Cavan Monaghan TD Matt Carthy extended his condolences to the families.
“There is a palpable dark cloud hanging over our community today following the tragic deaths of five young people last night,” he said. “It is hard to describe the prevailing sense of sadness that is felt throughout this region.
“There are just no words that could possible provide comfort to their heartbroken families; but I know that the people of these communities will be on hand to offer support and help in any way possible in the time ahead.”
