Four people are injured when priest loses control of car and crashes in crowd at a church in Dublin

• Four people injured in car accident outside church in Clondalkin, Dublin
• Local police said the accident was caused by a driver falling ill behind the wheel
• One woman with family at the funeral said the driver was the church’s priest

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 12:18 BST, 25 June 2018 | Updated: 12:45 BST, 25 June 2018

Four people have been rushed to hospital after a priest reportedly lost control of his car outside a church in Dublin, and crashed into parishioners attending a funeral.

Local police said the accident was caused by the driver of a car falling ill, and striking a number of pedestrians outside the church. 

The incident took place at the Immaculate Conception Church in Clondalkin, a suburban village some six miles west of Dublin’s city centre, on Monday morning.  

Incident: Four people were rushed to hospital after the driver of a car fell ill and crashed into a crowd outside the Immaculate Conception Church in Clondalkin, Dublin

Jo Archbold, a Dublin-based photographer, claimed in a tweet that the driver had been a local priest.

‘The incident that just happened in Clondalkin a few hours ago was because a priest took a heart attack whilst driving into the church yard,’ she wrote on the popular microblogging site.

She added in another tweet that her family members in attendance had been left ‘in shock’. 

Four pedestrians were taken to three separate local hospitals after the incident at approximately 10.20am, a police spokesperson told the Irish Sun. 

The driver of the car, allegedly a priest, is believed to have lost consciousness behind the wheel shortly before the incident in the grounds of the Church 

Crash: A damaged vehicle in the grounds of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Clondalkin, Dublin

The incident that just happened in Clondalkin a few hours ago was because a priest took a heart attack whilst driving into the church yard. It was at my Dads uncles funeral. Hope everyone is ok ?x

— Jo Archbold (@Yo_IM_JO) June 25, 2018

One suffered minor injuries, while the conditions of the other three persons hospitalised are still unknown.

A number of people were also treated by emergency services at the scene, but did not need to be taken to hospital. 

Several roads in Clondalkin remain closed or congested in the wake of the incident, and AA Roadwatch is advising that motorists avoid the area.

A number of emergency vehicles remained on the scene at lunchtime on Monday. 

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