LAST UPDATE | 11 Oct 2022
THE FIRST FUNERALS of victims of the service station explosion in Co Donegal have taken place today.
Ten people died in the tragedy in Creeslough on Friday. They ranged in age from five to 59.
The funeral for Jessica Gallagher (24) took place this morning at St Michael’s Church in Creeslough. Another funeral for Martin McGill (49) at the same church took place this afternoon.
Both Jessica and Martin are being buried in Doe Cemetery.
A lone piper led Martin’s coffin to St Michael’s Church. A Celtic Football Club jersey was brought to the front of the church.
Fr John Joe Duffy welcomed mourners at the start of the funeral service and offered sympathy to Mr McGill’s mother Mary.
Fr Duffy, who will preside at many of the Creeslough funerals, said that he was struggling to find words to encapsulate the enormity of the tragedy.
‘A jewel of her family’
Jessica Gallagher’s body was carried into the church in a wicker casket, while symbols representing her life were taken to the front of the church.
“We would love to be able to put in our hands to your hearts and take away that grief and that pain that you are suffering this morning,” he said.
But to even think of that would not be a sensible thing to do. Because in that void, in that grief, there you hold in your hearts Jessica.
Fr Duffy described Jessica as a “jewel” of her family. “While we cannot take that pain away for you, we want to walk with you,” he said.
“The greater someone is loved, the greater that pain and that pain is so immense, and Jessica will forever remain in your heart, but she will also be with you, she will remain with you.”
In his homily, Father Duffy said Jessica Gallagher “radiated a warm and positive feeling” to all who knew her well.
The priest said she left ripples of “love, affection, kindness and warmth” wherever she went.
“We are experiencing, you the family, are experiencing that most difficult challenge of all – the pain and hardship of having to say goodbye to Jessica today,” he said.
That pain and hardship that other families are experiencing and I know that other families have been with you that have lost a loved one and those who have a loved one in hospital at this time.
“That pain has been felt in our parish and in our neighbouring parishes when the pathway in which Jessica and others were travelling through life was so abruptly ended by this tragic accident.
“I wish I as a priest could explain that more fully in a way that words could explain it, but we do not have words to explain it, for words would make no sense or couldn’t give it sense.
The cleric added: “We are heartened this morning in our sadness of that support, that rallying of support from the very first moment of this terrible accident, that help that came to us from right across this island of Ireland, that help that joined in so greatly between the services from Northern Ireland and our own services and our locals all working together hand in hand.”
“Everyone who knew Jessica knew that radiant smile. That radiant smile that would light up a room with that infectious warmth that flowed from her,” he said.
He said she was a practical joker in the family and been known to put seaweed in people’s beds. The cleric said her success in life was based on “hard work and determination”.
Her confidence was unstoppable. Honest and direct, she would tell you what she was thinking. But she could also let you tell her of what you thought of an opinion or a situation or a reality.
“Whether you liked it or not, or whether she liked it or not, she took it as it was.”
He said Donegal was always “in her heart”, despite Jessica Gallagher’s stints studying in Paris and Shanghai.
“No matter how far she travelled or progressed, the place she was proud of was her beautiful family home – her touchstone, her rock and her pillar,” he said.
‘Nothing we could have imagined’
Jessica was a fashion and marketing graduate from the International Fashion Academy in Paris and also studied in Shanghai.
She had only recently moved to Belfast and had been due to start a new job yesterday.
Jessica was visiting her boyfriend’s apartment above the Applegreen service station when the explosion happened. He was also injured.
Her aunt Dolores Gallagher told Highland Radio that her niece was “the most beautiful young woman”.
“She was very artistic, she qualified as a fashion designer. She was to start, finally, her job as a fashion designer today. Today was the day she was starting her new professional life as a fashion designer in Belfast and she had just finished her first commission,” her aunt said yesterday.
She also spoke about Jessica’s pride and love for Creeslough.
“She was so proud of and loved her locality, she loved Creeslough so much. And when she was a student in Paris, one of her assignments was to work on something from home and she produced a beautiful picture of Muckish in the moonlight. We took her remains home yesterday in the moonlight.”
‘A beautiful soul’
In his homily, Fr Duffy said Martin was “a beautiful soul, a gentle soul, a kind person.
“The caring flowed out from him. Each Sunday, he would be in this church, down there, lighting candles. I think he lit more candles than I lit in my life.”
Martin grew up in Kirkintilloch, north of Glasgow in East Dunbartonshire in Scotland, and was an avid supporter of Celtic Football Club.
He had lived in Creeslough for years and was a carer for his elderly mother, Mary.
It is understood he had ordered his dinner in the local takeaway and had gone to the service station to withdraw cash when the explosion occurred.
“Martin was a carer who was filled with love, filled with kindness and compassion,” Father Duffy said.
“Despite the awful, horrible tragedy that has struck at the very heart of this community, and broken our hearts, from the very first moment aren’t those the key words that have been in action in this community but have always been in action in this community.”
The cleric said Martin had now been reunited with his recently deceased father Joseph.
“His strength was in that he was a caring person,” he added.
“And the fact that he was a caring person, a person of kindness and compassion, gave him strength when he had to face bereavement and not very long ago when he had to say goodbye to his dad which was most difficult for him.”
Mourners sang along to You’ll Never Walk Alone to end the service.
Dáil tributes
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has led expressions of sympathy in the Daáil for the 10 victims, who he said represented “everything good and kind, and beautiful about Creeslough, Donegal and our country”.
“Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, each one an enormous, incalculable loss in the lives of those around them,” he said.
“This is a community bereft , a close-knit people in deep sadness and mourning, devastated by what has happened. But it’s also a community of great strength and resilience, pulling together to support each other through this terrible time.”
The Fianna Fail leader said he met many people over the weekend who shared stories of the “most extraordinary courage, commitment, heroism, and love”.
“Stories of local people putting themselves at risk and doing everything humanly possible to save the lives of their neighbours in the aftermath of the explosion,” he said.
“Of first responders and emergency services from north and south facing scenes that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. But never hesitating for a second to do everything they could.”
The Tánaiste said the “nation is in tears” following the Donegal blast.
Leo Varadkar said in the Dáil that the “world stopped” as people learned of the “terrible tragedy, a tragedy which makes no sense, and whose only lesson is pain and loss.
“Since then we’ve seen the best of each other, a small country becoming one big community to search together to grieve together and to heal together,” he said.
“This week the world is watching us and it’s seeing a nation in tears. As a people from this place, we send our condolences to all those whose grief is still raw and painful and all too terrible to comprehend.
“A nation stands with you. A nation mourns with you.”
Speaking to The Journal today, Minister for Agriculture and TD for Donegal Charlie McConalogue said: It’s an unbelievable trauma for the community and for every family affected. Everybody over the course of this week has been rallying around and supporting one another.”
He added: “Particularly in counties like Donegal communities are strong and communities do pull together at a time of need … that’s the Donegal way and the country way. Anywhere where there’s an established community, that’s the way people are.”
Culture Minister Catherine Martin commended the “incredible community spirit and support on show in the most awful of circumstances” in Creeslough.
She said people were going about their daily lives when their lives ended “in the blink of an eye” on Friday.
“Everyday scenes in Creeslough’s small rural community on that Friday autumnal afternoon changed in a second, tragically and cruelly for so many,” Ms Martin said.
“It was an unmerciful sight locals and response services said.”
She added: “The incredible community spirit and support on show in the most awful of circumstances must be commended. Yet, it is difficult to imagine how the scale of these sudden, devastating losses and trauma can possibly be absorbed or comprehended by the community in Creeslough.”
The funeral masses can be watched online here.
Contains reporting by Órla Ryan, Diarmuid Pepper, Jane Moore and Press Association
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