The M18 motorway has reopened following a collision earlier this evening that involved a total of nine vehicles.
Despite the large number of cars involved, only one person has been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The incident occurred at around 6.15pm in the northbound lanes of the motorway at Manusmore between junction 11 (Dromoland) and junction 12 (Killoo/Clarecastle).
Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue from Ennis and Shannon stations were mobilised to the incident with crews from Ennis first to arrive at the scene. Gardaà and the National Ambulance Service paramedics also attended.
Fire crews immediately closed the carriageway until and assessment of the incident had been carried out. Fire service personnel spoke with those involved to establish whether anybody had been hurt.
Six of the vehicles had come to a stop in lane 2 while another car, which had its driver side front wheel almost ripped off, was left stranded in lane 2. Two other cars managed to pull into the hard shoulder a short distance away.
When it was confirmed that there were no serious injuries and that the hard shoulder was largely unaffected, fire service personnel implemented an Emergency Traffic Management system and were able to begin clearing the backlog of traffic.
Meanwhile, traffic was also diverted off the M18 at junction 11 and diverted via Clarecastle and Quin.
While there were no serious injuries reported, paramedics spoke with all those involved and assessed two people one of whom was transferred to hospital for further treatment however this is understood to be precautionary.
After Gardaà had spoken to each of the drivers, those vehicles that could still be driven were allowed leave the scene. Other cars had to be recovered however by tow truck.
Once the scene had been cleared and declared safe, the motorway was reopened shortly after 8.00pm.
Traffic Infrastructure  Ireland (TII) motorway crews also attended the incident.
The collision occurred at the same location as an incident in April 2015 that involved a total of ten vehicles. The largest emergency response to an incident on the M18 was mounted on the day which saw heavy hail showers sweep across the motorway. A number of people were hospitalised following that incident.
