Irish police maintained a visible presence at the funeral of Joe Carthy on Friday morning, setting up checkpoints and stationing officers outside the church in Athy, County Kildare, following public anger over the M9 collision and concerns regarding potential disorder, according to reports from BBC News, the Evening Standard, and the Daily Star.

A white horse-drawn carriage brought the teenager's coffin to the service, where mourners wore white T-shirts displaying his photograph and held framed pictures. Outside the entrance, which was decorated with white flowers and a blue carpet, a screen played photographs and videos as music sounded. During the mass, the presiding priest extended sincere sympathy to the family and told the congregation that they gathered with sorrow in their hearts.

A separate funeral service for another of the boys, Alex McCarthy, was arranged for Friday afternoon at Holy Family Church in Askea, Carlow. Five teenagers died in the head-on crash last weekend: Joe, Alex, Jack Kennedy, Jeremy O'Brien, and Kamil Pustkowski, who were travelling in a BMW when it collided with another vehicle while driving against the flow of motorway traffic.

Four people in the second vehicle were taken to hospital with serious injuries: three sisters, Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella, and Alma Kinsella, alongside a young boy. They had been travelling towards Dublin Airport for a holiday when the crash occurred. A vigil was scheduled in Carlow on Friday evening in support of the family, and an online fundraiser established for them had surpassed 640,000 euro by Friday morning.

The fatal crash has brought scrutiny to state care systems after Ireland's child and family agency, Tusla, confirmed earlier in the week that one of the teenagers was in state care and two others were known to the agency. Tusla said it will share information with the independent National Review Panel, which examines serious incidents and deaths of children in care or known to social services.

Questions remain regarding police operational decisions on the night. Local officers confirmed the BMW had failed to stop for gardaí prior to the collision, but an instruction was issued not to pursue the car once it entered the motorway travelling against traffic. Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has pledged resources to tackle dangerous driving, confirming Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly will introduce pursuit-specific training this year, alongside a review of legislation to create a dedicated offence for intentionally driving against motorway traffic.

The incident has also intensified political pressure on social media firms over dangerous driving content. TikTok declined an invitation to appear at an open session of the Oireachtas Media Committee on 23 September, offering a private briefing instead. The company cited active investigations by police and media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, adding it was not appropriate to be the sole platform questioned, while noting it removes prohibited driving videos and suspends offending accounts. Coimisiún na Meán has sought a full account from TikTok, while Meta confirmed it restricts under-18s from viewing hazardous driving material and bans dangerous challenges.

We still do not know the timeline for the National Review Panel's findings into Tusla's involvement or the final terms of the proposed traffic legislation. I will be following both as they develop.