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A PLANNING APPLICATION has been lodged for a brand new shop in the Co Donegal village of Creeslough where ten people lost their lives in a tragic blast in 2022.
The village currently only has one general store which was erected in the wake of the tragedy.
The village’s original shop was the Applegreen Service Station which was completely destroyed in the huge blast.
Controversy erupted recently after planning was granted by Donegal County Council to Vivo Shell Ltd for a redeveloped service station on the same site on which the huge blast occurred.
A number of families of those who were killed or injured in the tragedy have now appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála.
They claim the redeveloped site is disrespectful to their deceased loved ones.
They say they are also challenging the granting of planning on grounds of trauma and because a criminal case into the cause of the huge explosion is still ongoing.
The families claim the construction of a new building on the same site as the one on which they perished is an insult to their memories.
The proposed new plan includes the erection of ten steel pillars to remember those who died.
But the families claim that this is “incredibly insensitive, cruel, callous and cold” as many of the dead were killed by steel and concrete.
Now, a new application has been lodged by a local businessman to construct a new shop on a new site at the opposite end of the village.
The proposed shop, on the village’s Main Street, is opposite the temporary, prefabricated building which was erected in the wake of the 7 October 2022 blast.
The proposed new shop is also close to the local church, school and HSE Centre.
The new two-storey building will consist of a convenience store, a deli and kitchen, an off-licence, staff area, external toilets, fuel storage area and car parking.
The applicant is local resident and businessman Conrad Gibbons.
Mr Gibbons said it has always been his intention to develop this site, given its prime location in the centre of Creeslough village.
He added that locals have encouraged him to develop the site for almost 20 years now.
Work on a greenfield site on which the proposed new store would be built has already commenced with a number of trees cleared in recent weeks.
A decision on the appeal by the Creeslough families to An Bord Pleanála over the Applegreen Service Station site is expected to be delivered within 18 weeks of the appeal being lodged which was on March 10th last.
Ten people lost their lives in the Creeslough explosion including 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.
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