Minister McEntee to meet Creeslough group next week

RTÉ News understands Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has responded to the families of the Creeslough tragedy to confirm that a meeting will take place next week.

RTÉ News understands the minister is happy to meet with the families and to listen to their concerns, but she feels it is important An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Regulator and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities investigations continue their work.

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; Jessica Gallagher; Martin McGill; James O'Flaherty; Martina Martin; Hugh "Hughie" Kelly and 14-year-old Leona Harper.

Bereaved families of those who died Creeslough explosion previously said they cannot wait like the relatives of Stardust victims to get answers about the explosion that claimed the lives of their loved ones.

The group, calling itself the Creeslough Family Support Group, recently wrote the minister's office seeking a meeting to discuss a call for an independent inquiry into the tragedy.

The group said it represents an estimated 40 people who were directly impacted by the explosion in the Co Donegal village on 7 October 2022 in which ten people were killed.

In a letter sent to Ms McEntee last Friday, the group said their trauma to date has been immeasurable.

"The impact this has had on the families, friends, schools that all create a community after losing ten people has had a huge impact not only on the Creeslough community, but to the people outside of the village and also the county and country as a whole," the letter said.

"It has been recognised as a national tragedy," it added.

The letter said that questions have arisen due to the "tremendous amount of lives lost and the huge devastation", adding the most common question is "why?".

It said: "As a group, we all have our own questions that we believe are valid.

"We are supporting the families in their endeavours to understand the series of events that may have led to the suspected explosion that killed ten people".

In the letter, the families said the criminal investigation by gardaí "is far from complete" after two years.

They added that gardaí were limited by the scope of their investigation and referred to "wider issues of preventability", adding that they do not want another Creeslough tragedy to happen again.

On 26 September, a solicitor representing the families of seven of the ten people who died wrote to Minister McEntee's office requesting the establishment of a public inquiry.

Speaking on the second anniversary of the tragedy three weeks ago, Ms McEntee said she was happy to meet with all of the Creeslough families.

She said on 7 October that a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions "in the near future" and that there are "also separate investigations under way through the energy regulator and the Health and Safety Authority".

"These families deserve to be listened to, they deserve to be heard, and above all, they deserve to get the answers to really important questions," she said.