A young woman has gone on trial accused of dangerous driving causing the deaths of four of her friends on a stretch of road near Athy, Co. Kildare.

Dayna Kearney from Crossneen, County Carlow is also accused of driving a car which she knew to be defective.

Ms Kearney is accused of causing the deaths of her friends Aisling Midleton, Niamh Doyle, Gemma Nolan and Chermain Carroll.

She is also accused of driving a car that she knew, or ought to have known, was defective and thereby a potential danger to the public.

She pleaded not guilty to both charges before a jury was sworn in to hear her trial.

Opening his case, prosecuting barrister David Boland said the evidence would be that the surface of road where Ms Kearney’s VW Polo crashed into a white van on the evening of January 6th 2015 was good and reasonably straight.

He said weather conditions were good and speed was not a factor.

He told the jurors they would hear that her car swerved and veered onto the other side of the road before crashing into the passenger side of the van.

It is the prosecution’s case that the car swerved because the tyres were not inflated correctly especially given the heavy load they were carrying.