Motorist facing prosecution for driving at three times the speed limit on Easter Sunday

A motorist is facing prosecution after they were caught driving at almost three times the speed limit on Easter Sunday, gardai have revealed.

The detection - in County Longford - was one of more than 550 which were made across the country as part of a special  Easter road safety operation.

Highlighting the detection, gardai say the vehicle was clocked travelling at 179km/h in a 60km/h zone on the R194 at Granard, County Longford on Sunday.

No further information has been disclosed publicly and it's unclear if the detection was made by a member of An Garda Siochana or the operator of a GoSafe van.

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Separately, gardai say more than 100 motorists were caught either drink-driving or drug-driving over the Easter weekend, while almost 2,000 speeding detections were recorded across the country.

There were several serious road crashes over the bank holiday weekend, including one in Dublin which resulted in a young man being killed when the scrambler he was riding was in collision with a car.

A special road safety operation, which began on Holy Thursday,  is continuing this Monday with additional gardai being deployed at locations across the country.

Provisional figures show that more than 50 people were arrested on Easter Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant while a further 550 vehicles were caught speeding.

More than 60 motorists were arrested during the first three days of the operation on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant while more than 1,400 speeding detections were recorded.

In addition to the detection in Granard, gardai have highlighted a number of other notable speeding detections across the country.

These include a vehicle which was travelling at 110km/h in a 50km/h zone on the Naas Road in Dublin 12; a vehicle travelling at 127km/h in a 100km/h zone on the N21 at Adare, County Limerick and a vehicle travelling at 139km/h in a 80km/h zone on the R157 in Dunboyne, County. Meath.

"As people return home after the long weekend we’re asking you to please slow down, do not drive while under the influence and stay focused on the road," said a garda spokesperson.

Gardai will release more details and statistics relating to the Easter period later this week.