It brings the total number of traffic deaths in Ireland this year to 163, a rise of nearly 30% compared with 2022.

Police said a male and a female, who were in their late teens, died in the collision in the Gleneely area of Donegal in the early hours of Monday.

A second male, also in his late teens, was taken to hospital with injuries which were not thought to be life-threatening.

The three people were in the same car, and the vehicle was the only one involved in the incident on the R238 at Terrawee at around 12.30am.

Police in Buncrana are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact them.

It comes after a three-year-old boy was one of three people killed in a road crash in Ireland in August.

Thomas O'Reilly, 45, Bridget O'Reilly, 46, and Tom O'Reilly, 3, died at Windmill, Knockbulloge, Cashel, in County Tipperary.

That same month, four young people also died in a road crash in Tipperary. The male driver, who was in his early 20s, and three female teenage passengers, were killed.

It is thought they had been on their way to celebrate after receiving the results of their Leaving Certificate exams.

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As of 6 November, police said there had been 163 traffic fatalities in 152 collisions to date since the start of 2023. This is a 29.3% rise compared with the same period last year, where 126 people had died in 119 collisions.

Speaking in September, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Sam Waide, said: "We have a speed epidemic in Ireland.

"Speeding increases both the likelihood of a road traffic collision occurring, and the severity of injury sustained, should a collision occur.

"We simply have to ask every single driver to play their part in saving lives, routinely slowing down for every single trip, every single day."