{"id":367386,"date":"2026-03-27T04:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/367386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:05:09","slug":"permission-granted-for-new-service-station-next-to-site-of-creeslough-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/367386\/","title":{"rendered":"Permission granted for new service station next to site of Creeslough tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donegal County Council has today granted planning permission for a new petrol station next to the site of the Creeslough tragedy in which ten people were killed.<\/p>\n

Several families bereaved by the 2022 explosion had objected to the application saying it would be \u201cprofoundly insulting and disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a letter issued today and signed by a senior executive planner on behalf of the council granting permission has been sent to some bereaved family members.<\/p>\n

There are a total of seventeen conditions attached to the permission granted to Annette and Danny Martin Lafferty.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At least two of the families bereaved by the tragedy have indicated they are likely to appeal the decision to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la.<\/p>\n

“We will speak to our legal team but we will most likely appeal this decision again,” said the grieving family member.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

A decision on the new application for a service station by Donegal County Council was not due until April 1st.<\/p>\n

The former store owners had previously sought to rebuild on the site of the explosion, but An Bord Plean\u00e1la determined that the proposed plan was \u201cout of character\u201d with its surroundings in the village.<\/p>\n

A second application to demolish a house beside the site and build a new complex received several submissions objecting to the development.<\/p>\n

A joint letter from the families of 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be profoundly insulting and disrespectful to the memory of those ten 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,\u201d said the families, who are represented by solicitor Damien Tansey.<\/p>\n

The families argued that it was premature to allow a similar fuel-related development while investigations into the explosion are ongoing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Justice<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Justice Minister defends his actions regarding Creeslough families<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

They also raised strong objections to the \u201ccomplete absence\u201d of any prior consultation with the families, saying they were neither approached nor informed before the application was submitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter was issued on behalf of Leona Harper\u2019s parents, Hugh and Donna, her brothers Anthony and Jamie, Anthony\u2019s partner Leah Clarke, and Martina Martin\u2019s sisters Amanda Faul, Marie Ronaghan and Kathryn McDevitt.<\/p>\n

Those who died in the Creeslough tragedy were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe; Catherine O\u2019Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan; fashion student Jessica Gallagher; Celtic fan Martin McGill; James O\u2019Flaherty from Sydney; shop worker Martina Martin; carpenter Hugh \u201cHughie\u201d Kelly; and 14-year-old Leona Harper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donegal County Council has today granted planning permission for a new petrol station next to the site of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-367386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}