THE families of three women killed in separate road accidents have welcomed a European Commission recommendation that their horror stories be taken more seriously by the state.

The group travelled to Brussels at the beginning of the month to outline their frustrations with local authorities and the difficulty they faced in securing information.

In each case, the families believe the loss of life was due to serious flaws in the management of Ireland's non-national roads.

Now the commission is to write to the Oireachtas committee on transport to request it hears the stories directly from the families.

Aisling Gallagher was killed in 2004 and nearly five years later still has no death certificate because a file on her accident is still with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Three days before Christmas she was killed on her way to collect US currency for a dream St Stephen's Day trip to New York.

Her father Tommy told the European Commission that her death was caused by works on a road in Co Mayo, where white lines were painted on a stretch of road that had not been given its top traction layer.

"For a start, they were a bit amazed when they heard the submission from the three families and how long this had been going on. [The attitude was] if this story has been told in Ireland why are you not getting some closure on it?" he said.

"The question we ask is who put down white lines? Who set the booby trap? There was no top layer and that is how the death trap for my daughter was set."

The Gallaghers say newly erected signs clearly warning about the condition of the road appeared shortly afterwards.

Aisling had just graduated from college and held a full driver's licence. Her car went out of control on the road surface and slid in front of an oncoming truck.

"We just want people to know that Aisling was driving on a road that didn't have the right skid resistance. She was pushed 90 feet backwards by a truck and there wasn't a tyre mark on the road," said Gallagher.

"There was a nurse right behind and she went to Aisling and she said she was breathing her last breath."

In 2001, Seán Farren's daughter Sinéad was killed in Co Donegal when her car went out of control, again on a newly resurfaced road.

She had been married for just two years and was delivering a birthday card to her mother-in-law. She would have turned 31 last week.

"I had taken two days off because Sinéad was moving into a new house on the Monday. I was on my way to Dublin when I heard," said Farren.

"I think we got a fair hearing [at the European Commission]. This is the first time that anyone sat down and listened to anything we had to say."

At the time of Sinéad 's accident a warning sign on the road had fallen over and again, as with Aisling Gallagher's case, the family say fresh signs were put up immediately afterwards.

In Kerry in April, 2006, 18-year-old Eileen Keane and her 23-year-old boyfriend Trevor Tuite were both killed after colliding with another vehicle at an unmarked crossroads.

"They weren't familiar with the road and they followed someone. There was no signage there and they drove straight out into the road and a mini-bus hit them. They were both killed," said Eileen's father Richard.

According to the family, residents in the area had been asking for signage warning of the crossroads for about three years. It was erected shortly after the accident on the family's request.

The Keanes are particularly angry at the difficulty they experienced in obtaining information on their daughter's death and investigation.

"I am looking for transparency and for an independent body to be set up to investigate these accidents and for information to be available to the loved ones of the deceased," he said. "You should be entitled to the information; why should it be closed away? There are a lot of families out there who give up because it is time-consuming and draining."

The European Commission said it would write to the Oireachtas Transport Committee and to the local authorities in question.