Gardai were last night hunting the driver of a car involved in a hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of a pensioner.

Kathleen Furlong, who was in her eighties, died after she was hit by the car in Tallaght, south Dublin at 11am yesterday. The driver failed to stop at the scene – but officers located the car involved a short time later.

There was no sign of the driver, however, and officers were searching for them last night.

READ MORE - Elderly woman dies after Dublin road collision as gardai find car that 'initially failed to remain at scene'

Ms Furlong was pronounced dead at the scene. Sources say she was from the Kilclare area of Tallaght.

A Garda spokesman said yesterday: "Gardai and emergency services attended the scene of a fatal road traffic collision in Tallaght, Dublin 24 this morning.

"The collision, involving a car and a pedestrian, occurred shortly before 11am at the junction of Fortunestown Way and Cheeverstown Road (R136).

"The pedestrian, a female in her 80s, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

"Her body has since been removed to the City Morgue at Whitehall where a postmortem will take place at a later stage.

"The car, which initially failed to remain at the scene, has since been identified and recovered by Gardai and will be subject to a technical examination.

"The road is presently closed for an examination by Forensic Collision Investigators."

Local Sinn Fein councillor Cathal Crowe last night told the Irish Mirror that the lady’s death was heart-breaking.

He said: "There are so many victims in this but my thoughts and prayers are with the lady’s extended family at this very sad time and on behalf of our Community I’d like to pass on our most genuine and sincerest condolences to them."

Meanwhile, a man is in a critical condition in hospital after a hit-and-run collision in Waterford city.

A Garda probe has been launched after the incident that happened just before midday at the junction of The Glen and Ballybricken. A male pedestrian aged in his 40s was rushed to hospital and his condition has been described as critical. Officers have issued an appeal for witnesses.

Gardai yesterday announced they are to deploy an extra 4,265 additional "mobile safety camera monitoring" hours until the end of 2023 following the carnage on the roads this year.

So far, from January 1 to September 8, there have been 119 fatal crashes with 129 deaths. Gardai have revealed that it will focus the increased deployment of mobile safety cameras on a "risk basis".

This is across seven Garda Divisions where there is a higher risk of fatal road traffic crashes happening and have accounted for a total of 86 deaths this year.

The move has come as part of a €1.2m allocation increasing the presence of Mobile Safety cameras.