Ireland’s busiest motorway was brought to a standstill at the weekend when a Traveller funeral procession stopped its vehicles on the M50, causing tailbacks for hundreds of metres.
Videos of the incident on Saturday afternoon went viral, showing cars blocking three lanes of the northbound stretch of motorway, including the hard shoulder, while people left their cars to walk around and play music from a speaker.
The funeral Mass of David Mongan, also known as ‘Mixing David’, took place in Edmondstown, south Dublin, at 2pm before he was laid to rest in Collinstown near Dublin Airport. While transporting the coffin north on the 100kph-speed-limit motorway, several vehicles came to a dead stop between Junction 5 and 6 for approximately three minutes.
This led to a long queue of cars forming, causing vehicles further back to wait significantly longer than three minutes before they could get going again. The hearse carrying the coffin was also blocked by a car in front of it, preventing the funeral directors from leaving the scene.
Larry Massey Funeral Directors condemned the incident in a statement given to the Irish Daily Mail yesterday.
‘We have been in contact with An Garda Síochána regarding the incident, who are satisfied that our staff did everything correctly and any attempt to force the hearse through would have highly likely escalated the situation into something far more serious, and that it was an intimidating and frightening situation for our staff members involved,’ the company said.
‘We want to state categorically that we had no prior knowledge, nor any involvement in, the actions that led to the disruption, and that we do not condone, support or tolerate any dangerous or unauthorised activity on public roads.’
The funeral directors added: ‘As this matter in now with An Garda Síochána, we will not be commenting further.’
In footage of the incident, one of the mourners can be seen speaking to the hearse driver in a heated fashion. During the traffic disruption, a van was parked diagonally across the inside lane and the hard shoulder, preventing other cars from passing, although one car did seem to get past the blockage by driving their vehicle on the grass verge.
Mourners could be seen walking around between the stopped cars, touching the hearse and recording on their phones, with text included with one video shared by a family member saying they had ‘put the M50 to a halt’.
It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act, 1961 to deliberately prevent traffic from passing freely on a public road without a reasonable excuse. The penalty for blocking a public road is a fine of up to €400.
Videos from the M50 stoppage were viewed thousands of times over the weekend, with many social media users paying their respects to the deceased.
Other people, however, were more critical of the incident, with one internet user writing: ‘So, everyone else is late for flights and appointments?’
‘No concerns about ambulances, fire brigade, police,’ another said.
When the Mail contacted Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which operates the M50, to address safety concerns yesterday, a spokesman stated that the incident was a matter for the Gardaí.
An Garda Síochána stated that it had not received reports of the motorway being blocked.
Other livestreamed videos from earlier in the day also show a funeral carriage containing the coffin being pulled by four black horses, a balloon release in honour of Mr Mongan, and a large screen mounted on the back of a truck outside the church displaying family photos.
