Pleas to enable the bereaved families from Creeslough to meet with council officials over the redevelopment of the explosion site have been put on hold.
Donegal County Council will hold a workshop to decide which way to go forward, following a lengthy discussion in Lifford at the plenary meeting, where various options for the site where 10 people were tragically killed on October 7, 2022, were discussed.
Cllr Tomás Seán Devine of the 100% Redress Party proposed the council buy the land by CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) and talk to the bereaved families before making a final decision.
“That this Council support my motion in this Council by purchasing the land site,” he said. “[And] if needs be, and sit down with the families and design a memorial garden in memory of all those affected.”
However, after a lengthy response from the council, Cllr Devine’s motion was deferred and instead a counter-motion from Cllr Michael McClafferty, which proposed a workshop in the coming weeks, was passed.
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Cllr Devine repeatedly pleaded with the council to have a meeting with the families of those who died in the tragedy.
Those who died were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe; Catherine O’Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan; fashion student Jessica Gallagher; Celtic fan Martin McGill; James O’Flaherty from Sydney; shop worker Martina Martin; carpenter Hugh “Hughie” Kelly; and Leona Harper.
“It’s a very emotional time for these families and people affected, and every time this is brought up, it relives the trauma for them,” said Cllr Devine. “I want this to stop. A lot of this could have been sorted out a long time ago. Now is the time to sit down with these families and try and sort something out.”
“If it’s not the council’s job, just say that. I’ll understand but I have been speaking to some of these people and I would really like it if we could sit around a table please. That’s what I’m begging you to do today, sit with these families and discuss things.”
Cllr Denis McGee seconded his party colleague’s motion before Chief Executive of the Council, Mr John McLaughlin read out a three-page response.
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“There’s nobody who cares more about what goes on in Creeslough more than our staff, the senior staff and the councillors,” said Mr Laughlin before reading the official response.
“Every time it comes up it pulls at the heartstrings, but we have to be transparent and give the truth about what our position is and what it’s not.”
The Council’s response strongly discouraged the passing of Cllr Devine’s motion on a number of grounds, including that the site is on private land and the question of a source of funding and ownership for a memorial garden.
The statement continued: “The Council does not have a statutory role or responsibility in the development of a memorial site on the Creeslough lands or in the acquisition of lands for that purpose” and the Council must not “create unrealistic expectations which would ultimately lead to prolonged uncertainty and possible further distress to those most affected.”
However, Cllr McClafferty proposed “due to compassionate grounds” that the council defer Cllr Devine’s motion until September.
Cllr McClafferty asked in his counter-motion: “Prior to the September meeting, all the councillors here have a workshop on Cllr Devine’s motion to inform every councillor here.
“We in Glenties MD, the six of us know what’s going on, but the rest of you aren’t aware like the rest of us. I believe a workshop would be helpful and we can have a frank and open discussion in that workshop, with a view then to carrying it on to the September plenary.”
He added that a CPO “is a very blunt response and action and has to be an action of last resort.”
Cllr Anthony Molloy seconded the counter-motion.
“There was a Creeslough Working Group set up very quickly by the council and as has been outlined already, it was set up by elected members of Glenties MD, council, and most importantly, local representatives,” he said. “As a result of that the Creeslough Action Plan was put into place, which has been working very, very well.
“We should have a workshop here for all our 37 members to outline what has taken place in Creeslough since that awful day and there’s an awful lot of good work, led out by our CEO and council staff.”
Cllr Devine said he would be happy to defer his motion if the families were met before the September meeting, to which Cathaoirleach Paul Canning replied that it would be a “challenge” to meet families about private land.
“I am happy if we can at least attempt to try and reach out to families to have a conversation with them before I would go ahead and proceed with this motion,” said Cllr Devine. “If that can be done – I can’t see why that can’t be done – you might find in that conversation things can completely change.
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“I’d please ask that you’d attempt to do that and I’m happy to go along with Cllr McClafferty’s motion.”
“The motion needs to be in the direction of a workshop first,” said Cllr Canning. “The council has answered that we can’t speak about somebody else’s land, so we need to iron it out in a workshop format first where we can put the cards completely on the table for everybody and see what the best way forward is at that stage.”
