The explosion, which occurred at a service station in the County Donegal village on 7 October 2022, claimed the lives of 10 people. The deceased included four men, three women, two teenagers, and a five-year-old girl, all from Creeslough or its surrounding area.

Legal actions are being brought against a number of parties, including the owners and operators of the Applegreen service station and the management company for the adjoining apartments. Other defendants listed include Applegreen Ltd, Donegal County Council, Vivo Shell Ltd, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, and the Duntally Woods Apartment Owners Management Company.

Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, representing 11 individuals in the proceedings, said “many unanswered questions” remain about the cause of the explosion.

“Given the delay in the state initiating an independent inquiry along the lines the families have asked, our clients have no alternative but to pursue all available legal remedies to access the truth and the answers they so deserve,” he said.

He added: “Akin to the planning permission challenge, it is abhorrent that these families are forced to, yet again, take the legal process into their own hands to get justice for their loved ones.”

The explosion remains the deadliest civilian incident in the county in decades. Those who died were Robert Garwe and his daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe, 5; Catherine O’Donnell and her son James Monaghan, 13; Jessica Gallagher; Martin McGill; James O’Flaherty; Martina Martin; Hugh Kelly; and Leona Harper, 14.

In November 2024, Donegal County Council passed a motion calling for a public inquiry. Planning permission for a new development on the site was granted in February but overturned in June following an appeal by bereaved families.