The heartbroken parents of a teenage girl killed in the Creeslough gas explosion believe the local authority may have once again broken a promise that no development will take place on the site while investigations into the cause of the tragedy continue.
And the mother of another victim has vowed to fight Donegal County Council’s controversial decision this week to allow a new petrol station to be built beside the site of the tragedy.
In an interview with the Mail, the parents of 14–year–old Leona Harper said parts of the new development, located next door to the old petrol station, may encroach on the blast site.
Hugh Harper said: ‘My only concern is, how that [the planning approval] will affect the whole site, the site of the explosion where 10 people were killed?
‘If there is any encroachment onto that site, if there is any loss of our ability to examine that site, or any potential loss of evidence?
‘There is nobody giving us that guarantee; that there is not any evidence lost, that it is not going to affect the ability of an investigation into that site in the future.
Aine Flanagan, whose partner Bob and five-year-old girl Shauna died in the blast, stands at the entrance of the tragic site with Donna Harper, whose 14-year-old daughter Leona was killed
Leona Harper, 14, was the last person to be recovered from the rubble
‘For us, there is no question – that is unreasonable. Our daughter died. She was killed. Planning should not impede the overall objective of justice.’
On Thursday – nine months after the national planning authority refused permission for the petrol station to be rebuilt on the site of the explosion – Donegal County Council granted permission for a new development located next–door to the old forecourt.
A house on the new site bought by the original garage owners will be demolished to make way for the new service station and facilities.
However, maps on the council’s planning website, as well as property registration documents, show that parts of the explosion site are included in the latest planning application that was approved by the council.
Hugh Harper said he and his wife Donna asked the council about ‘the border of the new planning application encroaching on the site of the explosion’.
But he added: ‘We haven’t had any answer yet. Nobody is telling us that it won’t.’
Donegal County Council also refused to answer any queries from the Mail about sections of the explosion site being included in the new development.
In response, a spokesman for the local authority would only say: ‘A notification of the decision to grant this planning application was published on the council’s website subject to 17 conditions.
‘This notification starts a statutory four–week period during which appeals by relevant parties may be made to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
‘No further comment in relation to the notified decision will be made and the full context of the consideration of this application and the associated decision are publicly available through the council’s e–planning facility.’
The Mail previously revealed that written and verbal promises were given by Donegal County Council to the Creeslough victims’ families that the explosion site would not be redeveloped until investigations had been concluded.
These commitments were given during a meeting in the lead–up to the first anniversary of the tragedy.
At this meeting, a council official read from a prepared statement which stated the following: ‘In relation to the partially demolished structure of the former petrol station, shop and apartment block, the council is advised, following direct engagement with the owners of the property, that the investigations remain ongoing and any decision regarding the future use of the site must remain on hold, until such time as investigations have been determined.’
Land registration documents and maps submitted as part of the most recent planning application show two encroachments on to the original site of the Creeslough explosion (above). One (1) is at the back of the site, where the Laffertys have been given permission to build a car wash, while the second (2) is at the entrance to the proposed new service station. This is located near to where a hair salon (circled in red both above and below) once operated. The dormer bungalow in the below photo is to be razed to make way for the new station
The council’s decision to grant permission for the new development comes as the families of the victims continue to struggle with the loss of their loved ones.
Donna Harper told the Mail: ‘It’s very difficult to put into words what we are going through.
‘It’s with you every minute, every second of every day.
‘When you are standing there for 24 hours waiting to get your wee girl back, it’s the darkness that stays with you every day.’
Tragically, 10 people died in the devastating gas explosion that destroyed what was the only service station in the Co. Donegal village, along with the adjoining shop and apartment complex, on the afternoon of October 7, 2022.
Among those who died were three children; Leona Harper, five–year–old Shauna Flanagan Garwe, who died with her father Robert Garwe while shopping for a birthday cake for her mother, and 13–year–old James Monaghan and his mother, Catherine O’Donnell.
Hugh Kelly, Jessica Gallagher, Martin McGill, James O’Flaherty and Martina Martin were also killed in the blast.
Several of the victims’ families are vehemently opposed to the new development.
And the mother of Shauna Flanagan Garwe, the youngest to die in the tragedy, has vowed to appeal the latest decision made by Donegal County Council.
Little Shauna was found wrapped in her father’s arms when the rubble was removed from the blast site.
Her mother Áine Flanagan told the Mail: ‘Shauna would be nine, she was nine on the 27th of February and Bob would be 54 on the 12th of April. For me, it’s like it happened yesterday.
An aerial view of the devastation in the aftermath of the service station blast at Creeslough
Creeslough victims, from top left: James O’Flaherty; Jessica Gallagher, 23; Martin McGill, 49; mum Catherine O’Donnell, 39, and her 14-year-old son James Monaghan; Hugh Kelly, 59; Martina Martin, 49; Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe; and 14-year-old Leona Harper
‘Who is going to fight for Bob and Shauna except me? I will be appealing, definitely.
‘It’s appalling they are allowed to give planning permission where there is no outcome of the criminal garda investigation.’
In the aftermath of the explosion, separate investigations were launched by the gardaí, the Health and Safety Authority and the Commission for Regulating of Utilities.
A file was sent by investigating gardaí to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last September and detectives are currently in the process of preparing a second supplementary file.
Gardaí are due to meet with the families of those who were killed and injured in the blast on Friday, to provide an update on the ongoing investigation.
Two years after the fateful explosion, the owners of the service station, siblings Annette and Danny Martin Lafferty, applied for planning permission to rebuild some of the businesses located on the site.
Donegal County Council approved the redevelopment, but when this was overruled by the An Coimisiún Pleanála, the brother and sister submitted a second application last October to build on a neighbouring plot of land.
Four submissions were lodged urging the council to refuse planning permission, as well as an objection that was submitted by Damien Tansey Solicitors on behalf of some of the victims’ families, which had described the planning application as being profoundly offensive and distressing to his clients.
The local authority was urged not to grant planning permission while investigations into the cause of the explosion are ongoing.
The objection states: ‘Annette and Danny Martin Lafferty are the owners and operators of the Vivo/Shell Limited which operated the service station at which the explosion occurred on the 7th October 2022.
Danny Martin Lafferty, who along with his sister Annette operated the Vivo/Shell Limited that operated the service station where the blast occured on October 7, 2022
‘As operators, they bore direct legal and operational responsibility for the safe storage, management and use of volatile and hazardous materials including petrol and gas on the premises.
‘While investigations are ongoing the fact that three separate investigations have been initiated, is itself indicative of the gravity of the failures that appear to have occurred.
‘In these circumstances, it would be wholly unacceptable, reckless and contrary to the public interest to grant planning permission to the same applicants to once again become custodians of the volatile and hazardous materials associated with the operation of a fuel service.’
