It’s been two consecutive weekends of appalling recklessness on Irish roads.
On Sunday 9th August, while most of us were asleep in our beds, a group of teenagers drove a stolen car the wrong way down an M50 ramp. The incident unfolded southbound at Junction 12, Firhouse, at around 5:30am.
There were eight teenage boys crammed into the one vehicle, which was driving down the up ramp when it smashed head-on with a car. Nine people were injured, with the eight male juveniles being brought to various hospitals for treatment.
The man in the other car was the other person injured. He is now facing multiple procedures, physiotherapy sessions and weeks off work due to his injuries. It is, in may ways, a miracle that he is going to recover given the level of impact.
His name is Craig Fox – a 22-year-old apprentice electrician who was driving on the motorway with his N plates on when the collision happened.
His mother, Sarah-Jane, explained on local radio during the week that her son is simply “a normal, 22-year-old, young fella.” He had passed his driving test in recent times and had bought a car so he could begin his apprenticeship.
His mother said it was an indication of his character that after the accident, Craig emerged from the wreckage and walked across to check on those in the other vehicle, asking them how they were.
Then, less than 48 hours later, came another juvenile rampage in Finglas, Dublin. This incident happened shortly before midnight on Monday. Again, teenagers were the occupants of a stolen car which was hurtling down the road in a stolen Audi which rammed a squad car with two gardaí inside.
Prior to the crash, the youths had posted videos to TikTok from inside the car as they bolted from gardaí along the Navan road.
The Irish Times reported that authorities believe the collision was intentional on the part of those in the stolen vehicle.
“Before the crash, the two gardaí had been attempting to stop the vehicle by deploying a stinger device when it rammed their parked vehicle, flipping it over.
“The gardaí crawled out of the flipped car, while the occupants of the stolen vehicle – believed to be four or five teenagers – then fled on foot.”
The young male garda who was treated in hospital after the incident, along with a female colleague, told the paper: “I was in fear and was physically shaking after having been struck by the stolen Audi. My life flashed before me while we were sliding uncontrollably upside down on a main road.”
The reality is that those officers are lucky to be alive.
The mayhem playing out on Irish roads culminated in the horror that has dominated the news since yesterday morning. Four people, including an innocent child, are fighting for their lives in hospital. They sustained serious and critical injuries after a car full of teenagers being driven on the wrong side of the motorway plunged into them at 3am on Sunday morning.
The three women, two in their thirties, one in her twenties, and seven-year-old male child were travelling, suitcases in tow, to Dublin airport.
They were on their way to an aunt’s wedding in the UK, a relative said. That car was probably filled with excitement. All four should be at a family event filled with joy and cheer and happiness – instead, we don’t yet know if they will make it out of the hospital alive.
Meanwhile, the five teenage boys, all occupants of the other car, are dead. Their bodies were taken from the scene to Naas General Hospital on Sunday evening, where post mortems will take place. It’s a shocking waste of life.
On Morning Ireland today, John Joe O’Connell, vice president of The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said its members were all in shock after the horrific incident.
“This involved a stolen BMW that drove – trying to evade Gardaí – drove the wrong way down the M9 and then a head-on collision occurred with this car of a family heading to Dublin Airport on holidays for a few days,” said Mr O’Connell.
He added that the BMW had earlier failed to stop for Gardaí and that it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9.
Mr O’Connell said there were “numerous gangs” of boys and young men “trying to outdo each other” in social media videos depicting interactions with Gardaí, pursuits and wrong-way driving.
“Our members are not going to follow down that route – we’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, that way.”
Of course, he’s absolutely right. How can we expect the Gardaí to do their jobs if they are going to be prosecuted for doing so?
Had Gardaí forcefully pursued the car and attempted to stop it, the force would have been accused of wrongdoing. We know this because in July 2021, three prolific Dublin criminals – Dean Maquire (29), Karl Freeman (26) and Graham Taylor (31) were killed in a high-speed pursuit on the M7 as they were evading the Gardaí.
Garda John Francis Ryan was pursuing the criminals when their BMW crashed head-on into a truck, bursting into flames. They died instantly.
Shockingly, Garda Ryan was charged after a mandatory Fiosrú investigation was carried out. He was sent forward for trial before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of dangerous driving and endangerment of life. This was despite the fact the deceased criminals were driving on the wrong side of the road while fleeing gardaí.
The charges related to how he drove during the pursuit. I understand that the case is still yet to be resolved – but the issue comes down to the fact that under current Irish law, a garda is exempt from most road traffic rules while on duty.
However, our legislation means that officers are still fully exposed to prosecution for careless or dangerous driving. So, for example, if a garda runs a red light with blue lights on while chasing a suspect, that garda could still be charged with dangerous driving, as it applies to any other member of the public.
Why on earth is there no provision that would explicitly protect a garda – who, acting in good faith during a pursuit of while responding to an emergency – drives in a way that may technically meet the threshold for such an offence? There is zero protection in law, meaning that there is a heavy personal legal risk, as well as financial and reputational risk, for the officer who is merely doing their job.
Given that situation, why should any Garda do anything other than leave the scoundrels ruling our roads to it? If they do anything else, they may as well kiss their careers and bank balances goodbye.
Whilst Gardaí earnestly doing their jobs are being threatened with prosecution, the kids causing havoc on our roads openly enjoy flouting the law.
The mess that is the Irish criminal justice system means that many of these young perpetrators happily show their faces on their TikTok feeds without a care in the world. Are they worried about the consequences of their actions? Do they lie awake at night worrying about being prosecuted and convicted? Of course they don’t.
Some of these youth have dozens of convictions. Sometimes seventy or eighty or ninety. Case after case we see that they have been caught and convicted for their lawlessness.
Time and time again they are jailed and released back into society to do the same thing all over again. There is no remorse. The mitigation pleas are the same over and over again – absent father, overwhelmed mother, tough background, school drop-out.
There is plenty of evidence of their crimes over on TikTok, where these unruly youngsters give each other high-fives and brag about driving on the wrong side of the road for clicks and views while posting images of themselves donning balaclavas.
The gardai have, in plenty of instances, come knocking down doors over ‘offensive’ social media posts where words are deemed too hurty – yet, when there’s a mountain of evidence of masked teenagers kids stealing cars, they are treated with impunity. It seems bizarre when there is evidence to prosecute.
Second chances and empathy and tax-payer funded rehabilitation are pursued at the expense of keeping the public safe. Our juvenile justice system is not working. The deterrents for young thugs do not exist.
And the lavishly funded Penal Reform Trust will once again tell you these yobs are merely misunderstood. In reality, we have created an underclass of dangerous, callous young criminals and we’ve tolerated it in the name of inclusion.
And where are the parents? If there had been any level of supervision or control over these young people, this tragedy may have been prevented. How can a parent not know that their 14-year-old is out at three in the morning? Bring back personal responsibility.
The only solution to this unbelievable state of affairs is a complete overhaul from our government. An overhaul I doubt we will see anytime soon.
The Penal Reform Trust, for a start, has to become answerable for the drift towards soft policing. The establishment’s tolerance for lawlessness has to go.
Without effective punishments or deterrents for Ireland’s juvenile offenders, more and more people will suffer horrendous injuries or lose their lives.