'Always in our hearts': Creeslough remembers its 10 on explosion anniversary

Creeslough united to remember the 10 victims of the October 2022 explosion on Monday.

At 17 minutes past three, the bells of St Michael’s Church in Creeslough tolled 10 times.

A short distance away on the other side of the village, on the N56 road, local curate Fr John Joe Duffy began the roll call as Creeslough paused to remember its dead.

The 10 people whose lives were lost in the horrific explosion that ripped through the Applegreen complex were remembered at the exact moment of the second anniversary. 

Some of the bereaved families hugged and wiped tears as Fr Duffy read the names of the deceased.

“We ask you to give them comfort and consolation,” Fr Duffy said at a short memorial service at the site. “We pray for all who were injured physically and emotionally. We pray for their healing.”

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 were killed in the horrific explosion.

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A wreath was laid at the site by Parish Priest Fr Martin Doohan and Rev Canon David Skuce, the Rector of the Dunfanaghy Group of Parishes.

A wreath was also laid by Majella McFadden, the Community Links Manager at the Creeslough Community Hub while some family members also left floral tributes at the site.

Ms McFadden said the community is “trying to keep strong” while they remember their lost neighbours.

Messages of support were conveyed to Creeslough through Fr Duffy by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tanaiste Micheál Martin.

School staff from Scoil Mhuire, Creeslough. (North West Newspix)

A special memorial service was held in St Michael’s Church on Monday evening.

Rev Skuce rang a bell donated by the Donegal Association in London as Fr Duffy solemnly read out the names of the deceased to a packed church.

“The 7th of October, a Friday in 2022, began like any other day for most of us,” Fr Duffy said. “I’m sure it did for those who left their homes, those who were in other places, those who left their homes to go to school, those who left their homes that day to go to the shop, those who were there in the building complex, but suddenly the day changed at 3.17pm and has changed the lives of you, the families, who have lost loved ones. 

“It has brought you onto a very different journey to the journey you began that day, that morning. We would like to be able to say worlds that would bring you comfort. Words are indeed very difficult to find. 

“We express words, but what we want to express more to you is our togetherness with the families, with this how we’re injured and assure you of our walking together with you as best we can. 

“Please God we will continue to walk with you in that journey, to walk together with you as a community; a community that gathers around you, a community here in the physical, geographic place of Creeslough, but a community that is much bigger. 

“We want to walk with you. For it is a long journey, it is the journey of life that we will walk on together. You are always in our hearts and in our prayers. We try to be together helping each other in the ways that we can.”

Fr Doohan, Fr Paddy Dunne and Brother Philip Baxter, the Guardian at the nearby Ards Friary, were also present.

Fr Duffy prayed for the first responders and others who came to the aid on the day of the explosion and in the time that followed. 

Garda Superintendent David Kelly and Michael Scott, the Acting Chief Fire Officer for the Donegal Fire Service, were among those present from the emergency services. 

The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has vowed to meet with the families, who are demanding answers as to what happened on that fateful Friday.

"These families deserve to be listened to,” Ms McEntee said.

“They deserve to be heard, and above all, they deserve to get the answers to really important questions: What happened? How could this have happened to their families? How can we make sure that it never happens again and that nobody has to go through what they're going through?"