Donegal Page

Donegal Page

14 hours ago

Lovely collie looking for a good home - Ardara area - would suit a farmer.
Call Engene: (089)2090842 💚💛🐾 ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

17 hours ago

Did Someone Say Pints in The Beer Garden! ☀️ Sister Saras Port Road, Letterkenny, sistersaras.ie Letterkenny's Superpub with the ultimate in Quality and Service 074 912 2238 ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

21 hours ago

Remote access and control 👩🏻‍💻📱🤳 from
Orbit Security - Systems & Services 📞083 016 8091 WhatsApp 📍Pinehill Ind Estate,Letterkenny
With just a few clicks you can always monitor your home, business, farm or site from anywhere in the world 🌍
The Orbit team securing homes, farms & businesses around the North west Call us today for a free quote
📍Pinehill Ind Estate,Letterkenny ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

22 hours ago

Monday Inspiration - This bathroom style never goes out of fashion.. .Clean, Simple, and Timeless
Crawford Tiles & More - Dungorman, Castlefinn Co.Donegal F93 F642 ☎ 074 9143 942 crawfordtiles.com
This look works in almost any home and keeps your space feeling fresh for years.
Available at - Crawford Tiles & more - Dungorman, Castlefinn Co.Donegal 📍
Save this for future Inspiration ⭐ ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

22 hours ago

🇮🇹 Lunch Special at Italian Nook Letterkenny Choose:
🍝 1 Pasta
(Carbonara, Alfredo, Bolognese, Arrabbiata, Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci, Rigatoni Pesto Genovese)
OR any 10” Pizza 🍕
➕ 1 Side (Garlic Bread or Chips)
➕ Homemade Tiramisù 🍰
✨ Only €19.95 ✨
🕐 Lunch Special Available
Monday – Friday | 1PM – 4PM
📍 Unit 9, Riverside Retail Park, Neil T Blaney Rd, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, F92 E528
📞 (074) 920 2027
⏰ Opening Hours
Wednesday – Monday | 1PM – 10PM
(Tuesday Closed)
#pizza #letterkennyitalian #pastalovers #pizzadelivery #WeekendEats #italianfoodlovers #TasteOfItaly #pasta #AuthenticItalianFood #donegal #goodfood #freshpasta #letterkenny #goodcoffee #freshpizza #goodcoffee #DonegalFood #supportlocal See less ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page is feeling curious at RIP.

2 days ago

A bit inappropriate Martin?🤔👇 ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

2 days ago

UPDATE: A 48-year-old man reported missing from Buncrana has been found safe and well 💚💛👍
An Garda Síochána Donegal confirmed this evening that he has been located. Gardaí thanked the media and the public for their assistance. ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page

2 days ago

Bro said “holy soles” and stepped out in vintage Nikes 😎🇻🇦
Pope Leo XIV recently went viral after eagle-eyed viewers spotted a pair of white Nike sneakers with the iconic black swoosh peeking out from under his traditional white cassock during footage from a Vatican documentary. The clip, released in 2026 to mark the first anniversary of his papacy, instantly sparked online obsession, with sneaker fans trying to identify the exact pair.

Many believe the shoes are vintage Nike Franchise Lows, a tennis-style sneaker originally released in the 1970s and no longer in production. Since Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago and grew up during the Michael Jordan era, people online joked that “the Pope got that Bulls-era drip.” From White Sox caps to retro Nikes, social media is now calling him the most stylish pope in modern history. 🔥

#PopeLeoXIV #Nike #ViralNews #Shoes ... See MoreSee Less

Donegal Page is feeling shocked in Creeslough.

2 days ago

𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙢’𝙨 𝙞𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚 - Á𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙧, 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙂𝙖𝙧𝙬𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙖, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩...

The iPhone 7 Plus that Áine Flanagan holds close to her contains her most precious memories: images of her daughter, Shauna, and the five-year-old’s father, Robert Garwe. The two were among those killed in the gas explosion that tore through an Applegreen petrol station and an adjoining apartment block in the Co Donegal village of Creeslough in October 2022.

To the authorities, the investigation remains a matter of forensics; to Flanagan, it is a matter of profound, unresolved grief. Her partner’s iPhone works perfectly, but it remains a sealed vault. Without a passcode, she cannot access the birthday pictures, the recordings of family events, or even the footage of Shauna’s birth. Flanagan did not take many pictures.

Robert Garwe holding his daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe, who is laughing.
Robert Garwe and Shauna
The device was recovered from the rubble of the collapsed building by gardai and forensic experts and had miraculously survived the blast. Initially, investigators hoped it might yield evidence, but they could not penetrate its encryption. Eventually, it was returned to Flanagan as a keepsake, tucked in among her loved ones’ clothing.

“Garda forensics couldn’t open the phone. If they couldn’t open it, I guess no one can,” she says.

Flanagan, like the other bereaved relatives, spoke to The Sunday Times because of her outrage over the failure of the authorities to hold anyone to account for the loss of her entire family. Her memory of the day the world ended for her remains vivid.

“I was in the kitchen mopping the floor when I heard this ferocious bang. My grandparents’ picture fell off the wall. I fell on my knees crying; I somehow knew they were gone. I went into a state of paralysis and shock,” she says.

Minutes later, she was told of the explosion. She recalls the roar of diggers driving past her house villagers raced toward the wreckage to find survivors. “Bob and Shauna had gone up to get a birthday cake,” she says. “They never came back.”

Gardai arrived at her door hours later to confirm her worst fears. Flanagan could not bring herself to identify the bodies; an uncle performed the task instead. The father and daughter were cremated a week later.

“I still haven’t done anything with their ashes. They’re still in a room. Shauna’s room is exactly the way it was. I can’t go in there,” she says.

The final communication between Flanagan and her partner remains locked behind that screen. “I texted Bob, ‘Where are you?’ That’s the one thing I know I did during that period before they were found. I didn’t get a reply. Now, that text is just sitting there on the iPhone.”

Garwe did not use a PIN to access the phone, relying instead on a fingerprint sensor because Shauna, like most children her age, was constantly borrowing it.

“Bob was always taking pictures of Shauna. It’s not something I was ever into because I don’t like social media. He took all the pictures, all the little films, even when I gave birth to Shauna in the Rotunda,” Flanagan says.

“I had a C-section and I remember him being there in a pink outfit with a pink surgery hat on. I was medicated, but I remember seeing Bob with the phone. He wasn’t supposed to do that, but he did.”

The Flanagan-Garwes were a modern family: he was a Zimbabwean immigrant; she, a Dubliner. They met on a night out later in life.

“He touched my hand and, you know, I thought that was it. We didn’t marry; Bob wasn’t the most romantic,” she says.

Shauna’s arrival in 2017 was nothing short of a miracle. Flanagan was 50 and assumed she was entering perimenopause. She says: “I went to my local doctor and said, ‘I’m having these problems.’ I did two pregnancy tests and they were positive. He nearly fell off his seat; he’s known me since childhood. He rushed me into the Rotunda because he thought I was about to lose the baby. Of course, Bob nearly died from the shock.”

For Flanagan, Garwe’s iPhone 7 is more than a device; it is a reliquary she hopes to unlock one day.

“Obviously, I can’t access it. The gardai said they tried everything, but it wasn’t possible. Apple’s privacy features are formidable,” she says. “I’ve asked friends in IT; I’ve even tried the independent repair shops around Dublin, and they couldn’t open it either. We approached Apple directly and they said no. I don’t know whether they won’t or simply can’t. I’m afraid to even go near it now in case I drop it.”

For a time, the quest to unlock the phone provided a distraction from the perceived failure of the authorities to hold anyone to account for the Creeslough tragedy.

“It is a struggle to cope day-to-day with everything that is going on,” Flanagan says. “It has been debilitating, waking up every morning knowing this is all being brushed under the carpet. I would describe what has happened as a kind of conspiracy of silence.”

The technical facts of the disaster are chilling. The building collapsed after a gas explosion, and the gardai have since amassed a vast quantity of evidence. Witness statements suggest that unauthorised repairs were carried out on the gas system prior to the explosion. Regulators were notified of problems. Survivors also reported the persistent smell of gas in the weeks leading up to the tragedy, warnings that apparently went unheeded.

For Flanagan, the parallels are clear: she believes Creeslough is her generation’s Stardust. Like the families of the 48 young people killed in the 1981 Dublin nightclub fire, who spent four decades fighting for the truth, she fears she is at the beginning of a long, lonely road.

She and other bereaved families are engaged in a bitter campaign for justice, a battle she believes is being ignored by a political establishment and a society that view Donegal as a peripheral concern. “It feels as though no one wants to know because we are in Donegal,” she says.

Like her fellow campaigners, Flanagan is convinced that the authorities were given ample warning of a potential disaster but failed to intervene. They are calling for a full public inquiry, fearing that a standard garda investigation will not be enough to unearth the systemic failures they suspect are at play.

Further compounding the bitterness is the financial and legal aftermath. Danny Martin and Annette Lafferty, the owners of the Applegreen petrol station and several adjoining apartments, are said to have had insufficient insurance to cover property and public liability.

Yet, despite the unresolved investigation and strenuous local objections, Donegal county council last week granted the siblings planning permission to build a new garage forecourt and shop on an adjacent site.

“Life has moved on for a lot of people, but it hasn’t for me,” Flanagan says. “Creeslough has become a toxic place to live.” ... See MoreSee Less