A father has said it “only feels like last week” that his 14-year-old daughter was killed, along with nine others, in an explosion at a Co Donegal service station in 2022.
Hugh Harper, father of Leona Harper, was among the victims’ relatives, friends and others who gathered in Creeslough on Tuesday to mark three years since the tragic event.
Killed in the explosion 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 Kelly and 14-year-old Leona Harper.
Those gathered walked a short distance up the village’s Main Street towards the scene of the explosion. Relatives pinned pictures to the wooden hoarding that surrounds the scene of what was once a busy service station in the heart of the village.
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More than 200 people stood in silence for 10 minutes.
At 3.17pm, the exact minute of the explosion, the bells of the nearby St Michael’s Church rang out.
Hugh Harper, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Leona in the tragedy, said he welcomed the recent announcement that gardaí have sent a file on the incident to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“Trying to put sense to what happened on a day like this is impossible. All the people who turned up here want the same questions answered,” he said.
He has faith in the Gardaí, and knowing the file has progressed has given relatives a “boost of confidence”, he said.
Although three years have passed, he said it “only feels like last week”.
“Lives have moved on but we are still stuck on October 7th, 2022. We have not progressed. We need answers,” he said.
He said the relatives have already called for the establishment of a public inquiry and are “re-establishing that call today”. They have faith in the Garda investigation, but it is a criminal inquiry and may not provide the answers needed, he said.
“At the end of the day the Government is responsible for public safety,” he said.
Anthony Gallagher, who lost his daughter Jessica, said it is difficult to live locally and be constantly reminded of where his daughter died.
A public inquiry would bring “closure” to families and the public, he said, adding that he does not know what happened.
The Creeslough families were joined on Tuesday by relatives of people killed in the fire at the Stardust nightclub in Dublin in 1981.
Antoinette Keegan, who lost her two sisters in the 1981 blaze, said the Government must assist the Co Donegal families get answers via a public inquiry.
“I am asking the Taoiseach Micheál Martin to assist them and to give it (an inquiry) to them ... Please do not leave it on the long finger like we were left for 43 years,” she said.
Among those gathered for the event were Gardaí, including Chief Supt Goretti Sheridan, local clergy and public representatives.
