Creeslough families to get long-awaited meeting with Justice Minister this week

Families affected by the Creeslough explosion will meet with the Minister for Justice this Thursday in Dublin.

Jim O’Callaghan will sit down for talks with bereaved family members and some survivors at the Department of Justice headquarters on St Stephen’s Green.

Although the Minister has retired that he will not consider ordering a public inquiry until the Garda investigation and an inquest into the October 2022 blast are completed.

The explosion claimed 10 lives and sent shockwaves across the world.

The families have some questions to put to the Minister.

“We will take the opportunity to talk to him and just see what happens,” Donna Harper, whose 14-year-old daughter Leona was among those killed in the explosion, told DonegalLive.

“I have to say, we are absolutely delighted to get the chance. “We have our worries and our private concerns, which we will now put to the Minister.”

Some families have different queries and points to raise with the Minister and Ms Harper added: “Everybody will have their own individual and private queries so this is a great opportunity for us to be able to sit down and have talks.”

In October 2024, the then Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, met with the families in Government Buildings. However, the families were frustrated with the lack of progress on some matters.

“We did talk to Helen McEntee about the possibility of a public inquiry,” Ms Harper said. “She said at that time that she couldn’t make any kind of a decision until she went to speak with other people. 

“She put a few promises in place, but walked away and didn’t do anything. We will be able to ask those questions now again.”

A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in relation to the matter and there is an ongoing Garda investigation into the events of October 7, 2022.

A supplementary file, in addition to the primary file, was recently sent to the DPP by Gardai, including some formal recommendations from the force.

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Victims’ families were briefed by Gardai last week.

The Creeslough explosion claimed the lives of five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe and her father, Robert Garwe (50), Catherine O’Donnell (39) and her son James Monaghan (13), James O’Flaherty (48), Jessica Gallagher (24), Martin McGill (49), Hugh Kelly (59), Martina Martin (49) and 14-year-old Leona Harper.