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GARDAÍ ARE TO receive pursuit training following the fatal crash on the M9 over the weekend, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has confirmed.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin this afternoon, O’Callaghan also said a “separate offence” will be considered for individuals who drive the wrong way down a motorway.

His comments come in response to the death of five teenage boys yesterday morning after the car they were travelling in, which was being driven the wrong direction on the M9 motorway, collided with another.

The BMW collided with a Hyundai carrying three women and a 7-year-old boy. All those travelling in the Hyundai were taken to hospital and are in conditions ranging from serious to critical.

It is the second incident in a week involving a car being driven the wrong way down an Irish motorway.

The justice minister said today that the gardaí will be given “whatever resources they require from government in order to respond to this threat to public safety”.

“Yesterday we saw outrageously dangerous criminal behaviour by five teenagers that resulted in them losing their own lives and also inflicting serious injuries on a family that were lawfully using the M9,” O’Callaghan said.

“I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms that reckless criminal behaviour. I also want to emphasise that anyone who makes a decision to drive a vehicle deliberately the wrong way down a motorway is engaged in lethally dangerous behaviour, and it must stop.”

In relation to pursuit training for gardaí, O’Callaghan said Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly confirmed the training will begin for the first time this year.

It comes after the Garda Representative Association called for “proper training” following the incident at the weekend.

With reporting from Sophie Finn

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