A five year old boy and a man in his 20s have died in separate road collisions in the midlands.
They happened within an hour of each other yesterday afternoon.
A five year old boy has become the latest person to die on our roads.
He was hit by a car in the Kilminchy area of Portlaoise at about 20 past 4 yesterday afternoon.
He was rushed to Portlaoise Regional Hospital, but died a short time later.
The driver, a woman in her 40s, was not injured.
Less than an hour earlier, a quad bike and a motorcycle collided in Ballynascarry near Finea in County Westmeath.
The driver of the quad bike, a man in his 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorcyclist, aged in his 30s, was taken the Mater Hospital in Dublin, where he remains in a critical condition this morning.
Another man in his 20s, who was a passenger on the quad, escaped with non life-threatening injuries.
Both scenes remain sealed off the morning, with Gardaí to carry out forensic examinations later.
They're appealing to anyone who witnessed these incidents or has dashcam footage to come forward.
