DUBLIN, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Ireland's police chief has warned that some young people are driving the wrong way on the motorway "for social media likes" following two head-on crashes near Dublin in recent weeks.
The warning by the head of the Irish police force, Justin Kelly, came after five male teenagers died in a crash early on Sunday, seriously injuring three women and a child in another car who were travelling to Dublin Airport.
The teenagers were driving south on the northbound side of a motorway southwest of Dublin, police said.
"What makes this reckless behaviour even more appalling is that in some cases it is being done for social media likes," Kelly said in a statement about the incident.
It is standard practice for police not to pursue a car driving on the wrong side of a motorway due to the risk to other drivers, said the head of the Garda Representative Association, which represents police officers.
The association's vice president, John Joe O'Connell, told RTE radio on Monday that teenage boys and men were trying to outdo each other by "engaging in a pursuit and heading the wrong way down a dual carriageway or motorway and videoing this for likes".
Nine people were hurt earlier in August when eight youths hit a car while driving the wrong way on Dublin's main ring road, police said.
(Writing by Conor Humphries;Editing by Helen Popper)
