‘It’s very disheartening’ – Father who lost teen daughter in road crash speaks out following rise in fatalities

The Irish Road Victim’s Association’s vice president Leo Lieghio lost his 16-year-old daughter Marsia to a road collision in 2005, after she was struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian, and was on life support in Beaumont Hospital for several days before passing away.

He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme today: “It is sad and it is very disheartening hearing a person dying nearly every two days on the road.

“There are too many families missing that person at their dinner table, it is not right and it shouldn’t be happening and it can be avoided and prevented.”

It comes as the number of deaths on Irish roads so far this year reached 32 following the tragic death of a 33-year-old man in Mayo who was hit by a vehicle.

Also in the space of 48 hours, two students named locally as Darragh Dullea (20) from Clonakilty, Co Cork, and Cillian Kirwan (19) from Pilton, Co Kilkenny, died in a single-vehicle collision in Limerick.

A young woman also died from fatal injuries in a separate collision in Waterford on Monday.

“These people are not dying from an illness, they are dying from something that can be prevented,” he said.

Mr Lieghio stressed that people need to take responsibility for themselves concerning the worrying trend of deaths on the road and that they need to be thinking of their own families.

“They could be putting their own families through grief. People need to slow down, get off that mobile phone or stop taking drugs and drinking while driving.

“We really need stronger deterrents. There are not enough deterrents that are strong enough to put people off, they are just ignoring it,” he said.

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He added that people “need to obey the law” however he said there are “a minority that just don’t care.”

“We have to get through to these people, the mentality has to change. It’s all speed, it’s all drink. You see the numbers that are caught drink driving every month.

“The number of people speeding every month, using their mobile phones and not wearing their seatbelts,” he said.

Mr Lieghio stated that those who are caught “need to pay the penalty for it”.

“You seen last week the number of people that are disqualified and are still driving, after not handing in their licences.

"You need to get these people off the road.

“I don’t want another one of my children suffering, I don’t want to go through this again. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” he added.