{"id":648271,"date":"2026-08-21T01:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648271\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T01:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:59:11","slug":"tusla-refers-deaths-of-three-teenagers-in-m9-crash-for-investigation-by-independent-body-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648271\/","title":{"rendered":"Tusla refers deaths of three teenagers in M9 crash for investigation by independent body \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deaths of three of the five teenagers killed in a crash on the M9 motorway<\/a> on Sunday have been referred by Tusla<\/a> to the National Review Panel (NRP) for investigation. <\/p>\n

While two were known to Tusla, Jack Kennedy (17) from Athy, Co Kildare<\/a>, was in a residential placement in the care of Tusla. <\/p>\n

The five young people died when the BMW they were travelling in was in a head-on collision with another car in the early hours of Sunday morning. <\/p>\n

The BMW was travelling southbound on the northbound carriageway of the M9 when it collided with a Hyundai travelling in the correct direction. <\/p>\n

Three women and a seven-year-old boy were en route to Dublin Airport when the crash happened shortly after 3am, near Moone, Co Kildare. <\/p>\n

Alma and Niamh Kinsella were in the front of the Hyundai and remain in a serious condition in Tallaght University Hospital.<\/p>\n

Their younger sister, Ella Hendricken, who was a rear-seat passenger, alongside her seven-year-old nephew, remain in serious condition, also in Dublin hospitals. <\/p>\n

The four others killed in the incident were Jeremy O\u2019Brien (18) and his cousin Alex McCarthy (17) from Carlow<\/a>; Joey Carthy (15) from Athy, Co Kildare; and Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick.<\/p>\n

\"PortraitsThe five teenage boys killed in the M9 crash. From left: Jeremy O\u2019Brien (18), Alex McCarthy (17), Joey Carthy (15), Jack Kennedy (17) and Kamil Pustkowski (17). Photograph: Social media accounts\/RIP.ie <\/p>\n

Carthy\u2019s and McCarthy\u2019s funerals take place on Friday. O\u2019Brien\u2019s will take place on Monday. Arrangements for Pustkowski\u2019s and Kennedy\u2019s funerals have yet to be announced. <\/p>\n

Kennedy, from the highly disadvantaged Green Hills area of Athy, was in a series of care placements in recent years, most recently one operated by a charity. <\/p>\n

One source familiar with his care history described him as \u201cvery vulnerable\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0M9 crash: What happened when? From attempted break-ins to the fatal collisionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

All deaths of children, or serious incidents involving children in Tusla care, or known to Tusla, must be referred to the NRP for investigation. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Tusla said: \u201cWe can confirm that one of the young people involved in the serious incident on the M9 on Sunday morning was in the care of Tusla and two of the young people were known to the agency. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur staff have been in contact with their families and there is ongoing liaison with An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a death of a child known to Tusla, or in State care occurs, it is critical that there is an objective review of Tusla\u2019s engagement with the family, and those of other State services where relevant. This is completed by the National Review Panel (NRP). Tusla will share all information required with the NRP, in line with standard reporting processes.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018A slap in the face to the Irish public\u2019: TikTok rejects Oireachtas invite after M9 crashOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The panel, though independent of Tusla, does not have the power to publish its own reports, which are published by Tusla. <\/p>\n

It faced sharp criticism from Children\u2019s Ombudsman Niall Muldoon last year, who said it had insufficient powers to compel State agencies to provide information regarding their interactions with dead children, and could not publish its reports. <\/p>\n

Speaking in the wake of the death of Daniel Aruebose (3), he said Tusla\u2019s response of referring deaths of children known to it to the panel was standard, but inadequate. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not accurate to say this is a powerful vehicle that can provide the answers needed in these serious cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

NRP chair Helen Buckley rejected his comments, saying she did \u201cnot want to get into a public spat\u201d with Muldoon but had to \u201cinsist\u201d on the NRP\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

She agreed, however, that placing the NRP on a statutory footing would \u201celiminate\u201d hesitation among some agencies about co-operating with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deaths of three of the five teenagers killed in a crash on the M9 motorway on Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1845,18,13,14,6,19,17,3625,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,8504],"class_list":["post-648271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-carlow","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kildare","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-tusla"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117131029957580820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}