Gardaí issue appeal as they confirm death of little Laois girl in Portlaoise estate

Garda HQ in Dublin has appealed for the public's help in a statement in which they confirmed that a girl aged three has died in Laois after being knocked down in a big Portlaoise housing estate.

In what has been a horrendous week on Irish roads leaving seven people die, a garda statement issued just after 6pm on Wednesday, August 20 confirmed that another a fatal road traffic collision this time involving an infant.

They say the incident happened on Wednesday at approximately 1.15 pm. A statement said that the collision, which involved a car and a pedestrian, occurred on Cosby Avenue in the Fairgreen estate which is located off the town's Mountmellick Road N80

Gardaí added that the scene of the incident on Cosby Avenue was preserved for a technical examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators.

The statement included an appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.

They are interested from hearing from any road users or pedestrians who may have camera footage (including dash-cam), and who were in the Fairgreen area of Portlaoise this afternoon between 12.45pm and 1.30pm, is asked to make this footage available to Gardaí.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Portlaoise Garda Station on 057 867 4100, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

The child days in the same 24 hours as a boy aged three and a his grandparents were killed in a crash in Tipperary. The boys parents were seriously injured.

It's less than a week since three young women and a man were killed in Clonmel on their way to a Leaving Cert celebration.

The Laois infant who lost her life is the 28th pedestrian to die on Irish roads in 2023. Garda stats show that 124 people have lost their lives in crashes and other road incidents in 2023. That's up nearly a quarter on the months to the end of August 2022.