For the past six months, since pillars collapsed at a mine and caused subsidence and created sinkholes, the people of Drumgossatt have had to use a narrow, one-way boreen to go to work, to school, and to shops. They are not convinced their main access road will reopen anytime soon, says Caroline O’Doherty.

Galway, Clare and Roscommon are the counties where sinkholes and subsidence are most likely to occur, a location intelligence software and services provider has found.

The collapse of pillars as a result of recent mining operations has been cited as the "probably reason" that a large sinkhole opened on the grounds of Magheracloone GAA Club in Monaghan.