NRA to investigate signage at Citywest

THE NATIONAL Roads Authority (NRA) is to investigate signage at a junction where two men died when they went the wrong way down a motorway slip road.

Owen Merriman (19) from Palmerstown Woods, Clondalkin, and his friend, Leigh Mooney (also 19), from Woodford Park Road, Clondalkin, died when their Fiat Punto hatchback was in collision with a car being driven by an off-duty garda last Sunday morning.

The men died instantly in the head-on collision which happened before dawn along the southbound lane of the dual-carriageway between the Citywest and Rathcoole exits on the M7. A spokesman for the NRA said it and the Garda were both investigating the road conditions and the road signage issue.

The funeral of Mr Merriman takes place at 11.15am today at the Church of the Assumption in Ballyfermot, while the removal of Mr Mooney takes place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Clondalkin at 11am today.

Damien Green, the off-duty garda who was involved in the accident, is still in a serious condition in Tallaght hospital. An initial investigation by the Garda Ombudsman Commission absolved him of any blame for the accident.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times