A night out turned into a heartbreaking tragedy on Saturday when five close friends, all in their early 20s, were killed in a car crash on Ardee Road near Dundalk, County Louth. The collision involved a Volkswagen Golf and a Toyota Land Cruiser, and according to Irish police, five of the six people in the Golf died.
The victims have been identified as 23-year-old Chloe McGee, 23-year-old Dylan Commins, 23-year-old Alan McCluskey, 21-year-old Chloe Hipson, and 21-year-old Shay Duffy. The crash happened just after 9 p.m. on the stretch of road through Gibstown, a particularly treacherous area, in what authorities described as “adverse weather conditions.”
Chloe McGee was a woodwork and construction teacher at Ó Fiaich Institute in Dundalk, remembered by her school community as full of energy and kindness. She was in a relationship with Alan McCluskey, who worked as a fencing contractor and had recently returned from a trip to Dubai with her.
Dylan Commins, from Ardee, was known for his passion for cars and motocross, working as a mechanic in north Co Meath. Shay Duffy, from Carrickmacross, was just 21 and a former player with his local GAA club, deeply loved in his community. Meanwhile, Chloe Hipson had moved from Scotland to Ireland earlier this year to study quantity surveying at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Local voices say the loss will resonate for a long time. A taxi driver from the area said that three of the young men were lifelong friends growing up in neighborhoods only minutes apart — and all deeply ambitious, running small businesses and chasing their dreams. Residents described the stretch of road where the crash happened as especially dangerous in poor weather, with Gardaí urging anyone with dash-cam footage from that night to come forward.
Superintendent Charlie Armstrong, speaking on behalf of An Garda Síochána, expressed his condolences and praised the response of first responders under difficult conditions. He confirmed that post-mortems are expected in the coming days.
Ireland’s leaders have joined in mourning. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the country is “numbed and shocked” by the scale of the tragedy, while President Catherine Connolly called the loss of five “precious young lives” profoundly saddening.
As investigations continue, community members are struggling to grapple with the grief. A parish priest described how close-knit the families were, and how this crash has hit their tight communities especially hard. The Gardaí are asking anyone who was on the L3168 road between 8:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. to share any information.
