A nine-month-old infant remained in critical condition in hospital last night after the car she was travelling in was involved in a head-on collision in Co Wexford over the weekend.
The baby girl, whose name has not been released, was understood to be in intensive care at Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin yesterday.
The two-car collision happened at 1.50pm on Sunday at Curraghmore, Saltmills. Gardaí yesterday appealed for anyone who was travelling on the Duncannon side of Wellington Bridge between 1.30pm and 2.30pm to contact Ballycullane Garda station on 051-562740.
The incident was one of a spate of crashes that killed eight people over the weekend, making it the worst 48 hours for road deaths since the start of the year.
Responding to the fatalities, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "It is very disappointing when so much effort is being made by everybody to abide by the law and by the new standards, and particularly issues around drunk driving and speed so as to avoid carnage."
Notwithstanding those efforts, there seemed to have been some very bad collisions in broad daylight that were centred around speed, he continued.
"We have to continue to redouble our efforts to try to get people to be responsible on the roads. It is disappointing that people continue to be involved in driving at such horrendous speeds," Mr Ahern said.
Meanwhile, two men who died at the weekend when their car hit a minibus near Athlone have been named. They were Lukasch Klincewicz (26) and Maximillian Klincewicz (17) from Cushla Grove, Athlone. They died in the collision at about 1.15am on Sunday on the main N6 at Ballydangan outside Athlone.
A man killed at Ballineen, Co Cork on Saturday was named as Patrick O'Farrell (29), Bantry Road, Dunmanway.
A man was also killed in a collision in Co Antrim.
Three men and a woman were killed in what gardaí said was a failed attempt at overtaking on the Borris-in-Ossory to Roscrea stretch of the N7 on Saturday. One man remains in a serious condition in hospital.