Planning granted for new petrol station next to site of Creeslough tragedy

Emergency services working at the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Donegal County Council has granted planning permission for a new petrol station next to the site of the Creeslough tragedy in which 10 people were killed.

Several families bereaved by the 2022 explosion had objected to the application, saying it would be “profoundly insulting and disrespectful”. 

However, a letter issued on Thursday and signed by a senior executive planner on behalf of the council granting permission has been sent to some bereaved family members.

There are a total of 17 conditions attached to the permission granted to Annette and Danny Martin Lafferty.

Among the conditions attached to the permission are restrictions on opening hours, with the premises to operate only between 7am and 11pm unless otherwise agreed in writing with the planning authority.

The decision also includes wildlife protections, requiring a summer bat survey before demolition or site clearance if works have not started by then, while all demolition and site clearance must take place outside the bird breeding season from March to August inclusive.

At least two of the families bereaved by the tragedy have indicated they are likely to appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

"We will speak to our legal team but we will most likely appeal this decision again," said one family member.

"We still do not feel that this is the appropriate place to build a new service station, especially when we still have not been told what caused the deaths of our family members."

A decision on the new application for a service station by Donegal County Council was not due until April 1.

The former store owners had previously sought to rebuild on the site of the explosion, but An Coimisiún Pleanála determined that the proposed plan was “out of character” with the surroundings in the village.

A second application to demolish a house beside the site and build a new complex received several submissions objecting to the development.

A joint letter from the families of two victims — Leona Harper, 14, and mum-of-four Martina Martin — said the site of the Creeslough explosion deserves the same respect as the sites of the Stardust Nightclub fire and the Grenfell Tower fire, which were never rebuilt in this way.

“It would be profoundly insulting and disrespectful to the memory of those 10 individuals, and to their surviving families, to permit the construction of a similar commercial fuel facility on or immediately adjacent to the site where they died,” said the families, who are represented by solicitor Damien Tansey.

The families argued that it was premature to allow a similar fuel-related development while investigations into the explosion are ongoing.

They also raised strong objections to the “complete absence” of any prior consultation with the families, saying they were neither approached nor informed before the application was submitted.

“Given that the proposed development relates directly to the site where their loved ones perished, the very minimum that basic decency and respect required, was that the families be engaged with before any such application was made.” 

The letter was issued on behalf of Leona Harper’s parents, Hugh and Donna, her brothers Anthony and Jamie, Anthony’s partner Leah Clarke, and Martina Martin’s sisters Amanda Faul, Marie Ronaghan and Kathryn McDevitt.

Those who died in the Creeslough tragedy 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 14-year-old Leona Harper.