GRA President: No level of training could have prepared gardaí for Creeslough tragedy

Vivienne Clarke

Donegal based Brendan O’Connor, President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), has said that no level of training could have prepared gardaí for what they experienced in Creeslough at the weekend.

Gardaí had a dual role to play in such circumstances – to provide support for the community, but also to conduct a full investigation, he told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

Supports would be put in place for members of the force, but they “haven’t drawn breath yet” so it would be some time before they could avail of them, he added.

It was “the total randomness” of the tragedy that had hit him the most, he said. A colleague had been due to call to the apartment building destroyed in the explosion that day to take a statement.

Mr O’Connor said that the force could not have done anything on Friday without the mobilisation of the community. Everybody played a part through their collective efforts. There were a lot of people working behind the scenes all weekend, “not just the people in the yellow vests”.

The real heroes were the construction workers and farmers who rallied quickly to provide the equipment to help with the rescue efforts. It was very dangerous, “those people risked their lives” to create the environment where the rescue services could do their work, he explained.

“I cannot stress the importance of the work they did”.

There was nobody in the village who had not played a part in the wake of the explosion.