Tractor crushes car in Graiguenamanagh: ‘It could have been complete carnage'
The driver of a car and passersby had a lucky escape in a
Co Kilkenny
village at the weekend after a tractor
crashed into a car
.
The tractor, which was pulling a trailer of silage, was being driven by a teenage boy at the time of the incident in Graiguenamanagh at 5.30pm on Saturday.
The tractor had just come over one of the country's oldest seven-arch bridges which joins
Co Carlow
to Co Kilkenny along the river Barrow.
The owner of the Dacia car had got out of the vehicle shortly before the incident happened on the town's Lower Main Street.
READ MORE
The impact resulted in a pole being driven into the Duiske pub and restaurant, sending those inside scattering. The car was parked close to the premises and Doran's Supervalu supermarket.
The street was busy at the time of the incident and several vehicles had stopped at traffic lights to allow others to pass along the narrow street.
'It could have been complete carnage. The street was busy at the time due to locals and visitors making the most of the good weather along the river Barrow,' said a local person who was in the area at the time.
'It is unbelievable that someone, or several people, were not seriously injured. The owner of the car is a lucky man.'
The street was cordoned off for a time to allow
gardaí
and other emergency services to carry out work at the scene.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said 'no injuries' were reported and 'no arrests' had been made in connection with the incident. Investigations are ongoing, it added.
It is understood the owner of the car and driver of the tractor are from the local area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Prominent businessman loses bid for reporting restrictions on £1bn loan fraud trial
A prominent Belfast businessman accused of fraud in relation to a £1 billion (€1.2 billion) loan deal has been unsuccessful in his bid to have reporting restrictions imposed on the trial. Frank Cushnahan has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He had sought to have reporting restrictions put in place during the trial. His co-accused, Ian Coulter, has also pleaded not guilty to all charges. Mr Coulter did not seek to have reporting restrictions applied. The charges against the men relate to the sale of a loan book held by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which was set up by the Irish government to deal with toxic property loans after the banking crisis in 2008. READ MORE Mr Cushnahan had sought an order from the court pursuant to section 4 (2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which states that reporting on certain proceedings may be postponed if there is 'a substantial risk of prejudice to the administration of justice in those proceedings'. In dismissing the application, Mr Justice Ian Huddleston of the Crown Court of Northern Ireland said there was 'no substantial risk to the applicant on the facts'. He said there is 'substantial public interest' in the trial. 'The public interest in fair and accurate reporting of criminal trials generally, and the promotion of public confidence in the administration of justice and the rule of law, is something which very much tends to the dismissal of the application,' the judge said. Nama's Northern Ireland loan book was sold to a US investment fund in 2014. Mr Cushnahan, a former member of Nama's Northern Ireland advisory committee, is charged with fraud for allegedly failing to disclose information to Nama between April 1st and November 7th, 2013. Mr Coulter, a solicitor, is alleged to have made a false representation to a law firm on or around September 11th, 2014. He is also charged with making an article in connection with a fraud, namely a £9 million invoice, and two counts of concealing or transferring criminal property on various dates in 2014. Both men are accused of making a false representation to Nama and a law firm in April 2014. They deny all charges. In his written judgment, which was delivered on Wednesday, Mr Justice Huddleston said: 'The application to this court was essentially by way of written submissions made by Mr Cushnahan's counsel as expanded upon orally but acknowledged by him to be unsupported by any evidential basis or other supporting information.' Mr Cushnahan was represented by Frank O'Donoghue KC and Bobbie-Leigh Herdman BL, instructed by Paul Dougan from John J Rice Solicitors. Four media organisations intervened in the case – The Irish Times, RTÉ, BBC and Mediahuis. They were represented by Richard Coghlin KC, instructed by Fergal McGoldrick of Carson McDowell LLP. Jonathan Kinnear KC and Lauren Cheshire BL, instructed by the Public Prosecution Service, supported the media interveners' submissions.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Co Limerick garda acquitted of charges he fixed motoring offences for drivers
A Limerick-based garda has been found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he fixed motoring offences for drivers. Garda Thomas Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight day trial. The jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier, the jury was directed by the trial judge, Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The garda, who had denied all of the charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by family friends and colleagues. READ MORE Garda Flavin was arrested following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI). He was accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against people for driving without insurance. His trial heard the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within 10 days of the traffic stop. All of the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale Garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow up checks of Pulse they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, urged the jury to acquit his client of all of the charges and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Mr Nicholas told the jury Garda Flavin was an exemplary garda who had served with dedication in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' gardaí face in Rathkeale as opposed to other jurisdictions. 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year. 'One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles – UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful," he said. 'We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates.' The court heard evidence that people had provided certain documents at Rathkeale Garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time. However it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Garda Flavin had 'sorted out' the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. Ms Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was 'a circumstantial case' with 'no direct evidence'. 'Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence,' she said. She had argued that all of the relevant data entries into Pulse 'were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin'. She alleged Garda Flavin knew the drivers were not insured and that he entered their details on to Pulse to ensure they appeared covered. 'Mr Flavin knew what he was doing, and he did so to ensure those people were insured (on Pulse) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution,' Ms Murphy said. However, after deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury unanimously dismissed all of the allegations.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Boy (12) who fell from Cliffs of Moher had ‘instantaneous' death, says coroner
A 12-year old boy lost his balance after slipping in a puddle close to the edge of the Cliffs of Moher before falling over the edge to his death, his inquest has heard. In eye-witness testimony at the Clare coroner's court, reviewing the accidental death of Zhihan Zhao at the Cliffs of Moher last July, French tourist Marion Tourgon described seeing him fall over the edge at about 1.45pm on the day. Zhihan had set out on walking the Cliffs of Moher trail with his mother, Xianhong Huang, and her friends. In her evidence, a tearful Ms Huang said Zhihan was walking ahead of her on the trail when she lost sight of him. READ MORE Ms Tourgon told the inquest she and her family were taking a selfie when she saw a young Asian boy, who was alone, come into view. She said she saw his right foot slip into a puddle and his left foot ended up in the air as he tried to stop himself from falling. 'It was very quick. He found himself in an awkward position with his left foot in a void over the cliff and his right knee on the edge of the cliff.' 'His right knee eventually fell into the void over the cliff and he was trying to grasp the grass with his hands to pull himself up. He didn't shout and there was no noise.' She said her family alerted the emergency services by phone. Speaking through an interpreter Ms Huang said her son walked 'very fast and was ahead of us by 50 metres'. 'As there was only one path I thought we would meet him along the way. When I didn't I walked to the visitor centre and I checked the visitor centre.' When she couldn't find her son there, she walked back along the path to search for him and then reported him missing. Ms Huang asked: 'What exactly caused Zhihan to fall from the Cliffs?' Clare coroner Isobel O'Dea said Ms Tourgon's evidence would help answer that question. Sgt Claire McGuigan said Ms Huang provided a photo of Zhihan she had taken taken earlier on the Cliffs of Moher trail. Garda Colm Collins said the Coastguard later spotted a body at the base of the cliffs. A lifeboat was launched but it could not access the area due to the sea conditions. Zhihan's body was recovered from the sea five days later after it was spotted by fisherman, Matthew O'Halloran from Corofin, Co Clare. The coroner said the post mortem found Zhihan died from multiple traumatic injuries consistent with a fall from a height. Ms O'Dea said her verdict was one of 'accidental death'. 'It is clear from evidence we heard that Zhihan slipped off the cliffs rather than any other way. His death would have been very quick - instantaneous.' Ms O'Dea told Ms Huang: 'I can't imagine how upsetting this is for you'. On August 22nd of last year, the Clare Local Development Company, which manages the trail, closed off large sections of the route, which remain closed off today due to continuing safety concerns. At the time, the company confirmed it was taking the action following two recent fatal accidents on the trail. In May 2024, a woman in her 20s from Belgium died after she fell from the cliffs.
