IMPACT OF CREESLOUGH TRAGEDY FELT IN CO MONAGHAN

Books of Condolence have opened at the Municipal District office at the Glen Road in Monaghan Town and in Carrickmacross and Clones to enable the people of Monaghan to express their sympathy to the community of Creeslough in Co Donegal where ten people lost their lives on Friday last when an explosion occurred at a petrol station in the village. The profound nationwide impact of the incident has been felt keenly across Co Monaghan. The official opening of the Blackwater House facility in Monaghan Town, which was planned for Monday last, World Mental Health Day, was postponed as a mark of respect. Other events planned in the region in association with the occasion, including the launch of the Cavan Monaghan Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse Service and the launch of a regional community healthcare plan, were similarly deferred.

A two-minute silence in memory of the Creeslough victims was observed at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting of the Co Monaghan Joint Policing Committee, where a vote of sympathy with those bereaved was moved by JPC Acting Cathaoirleach Councillor P J O’Hanlon. Councillor O’Hanlon said that some very serious issues had been discussed in the course of the meeting, but what had happened in Creeslough on Friday put everything into perspective. “On behalf of the JPC, our prayers and thoughts are with those who lost their lives, their families, the community of Creeslough and the wider Donegal community,” the Acting Cathaoirleach stated. “There are no words to say about what happened, it is a terrible tragedy. It has…