Miriam Lord: TDs balance lack of words for Creeslough with duty to speak

There are no words.

And a forever of things to say.

There are countless words.

And so many things forever unsaid.

‘Like the heart was ripped out of the village’: one year on from the Creeslough disaster

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There are no words, yet they come tumbling out all the same.

And it all makes sense because the whole thing is so senseless anyway.

When the politicians returned to Leinster House on Tuesday they knew they had to talk about Creeslough, even if it felt like everything had already been said and what could they possibility do now to lessen the desolation of one small community coming to terms with inconceivable loss? A chamber of lawmakers and – like the rest of us – utterly powerless in the face of such random destruction.

These national representatives, who specialise in producing words at will whether we want to hear them or not, were mindful of their insignificance in the unfolding tragedy but also of their duty to speak on behalf the nation and for the people who elected them to do just that.

On Tuesday, the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and TDs from all other parties and groupings in Dáil Éireann articulated the feelings of people all over the country by tendering official expressions of sympathy with Creeslough on the shocking deaths of 10 of their own who perished in an explosion at their village shop and petrol station last Friday.

Catherine Connolly, the Leas Cheann Comhairle, led the way, expressing the Dáil’s deepest condolences. “Clearly, words cannot express the pain and grief of those who have lost family members or the loss felt by such a tight-knit community,” she said, the first of many speakers to underscore the inadequacy of language when seeking to give even some small amount of succour while trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.

But they had to try.

The Taoiseach began by reading the names and ages of the victims – two of them teenagers and one a little child – into the Dáil record. Those names are there forever now.

Community bereft

“Women, men, boys and girls representing everything good, kind and beautiful about Creeslough, Donegal and our country, taken away in a tragic incident on a quiet Friday afternoon; fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, each one an enormous, incalculable loss in the lives of those around them,” said Micheál Martin.

“This is a community bereft.”

TDs sat in sorrowful, respectful silence as the Taoiseach paid tribute to the “most extraordinary courage, commitment, heroism and love” of local people and members of the emergency services who put themselves at risk by “doing everything humanly possible to save the lives of their neighbours” in the aftermath of the blast. All the speakers echoed his praise for the selfless locals and first-responders.

“Words on their own cannot comfort the fathomless grief that so many will feel in the weeks and months ahead.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar decried “the cruelty and capriciousness of an unjust and random world” while, far away in the northwest corner of Ireland, Creeslough was burying the first of its dead: Jessica Gallagher (24) and Martin McGill (49).

Donegal TDs were not present as all but one were at the funerals. Dublin South Central TD Joan Collins spoke on behalf of her Independent Group colleague and Donegal TD, Thomas Pringle, who was at the Council of Europe assembly in Strasbourg.

Catherine Martin, the Green Party Minister for the Arts and the Gaeltacht, delivering much of her contribution in Irish, told the hushed ranks of deputies: “The mourning is only beginning. We must honour those precious lives, support that broken community. And we mourn together as a nation.”

The chamber was not as full as it should have been, with a particularly poor showing by Government backbenchers, given the subject at hand. This was in marked contrast to the Sinn Féin benches, where there was almost a full house. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald was indisposed so Cavan-Monaghan’s Matt Carthy deputised. As Catherine Martin had also done before him, he too read the names of the people who died into the record. Later, Labour leader Ivana Bacik would follow suit, saying: “We honour the names of those who died.”

Carthy said he had family living close to the village and he knew the area well, having previously been an MEP for the region. “Until last Friday afternoon, our enduring memories of Creeslough were happy ones – thoughts of a welcoming, friendly community that made everybody who had the privilege of visiting the area feel at home,” he said. But now, “Irish people everywhere are stunned” because “many naturally feel that Creeslough could be their community, their place, their loved ones”.

‘Intense heartbreak’

Again and again, deputies struggled to find the right thing to say. “It’s difficult at a time like this to find words that seem adequate to fully describe the intense heartbreak and incomprehension we all feel,” said the Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy. But even while that communal grief in Creeslough was “immense, relentless and overpowering”, we could also “see signs of hope, a chink of light to illuminate the darkness” in moments of deep despair.

Mattie McGrath quoted St Francis of Assisi: “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”

And yes, it is true, said People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett: “No words we can say can possibly compensate for the shocking loss and tragedy” the people of Creeslough have experienced “but they deserve tribute for the incredible dignity and heroism they have demonstrated in the face of this horrendous, unspeakable tragedy”.

Kildare South’s Cathal Berry, expressing sympathies on behalf of the Regional Group, choked up as he paid tribute to the 10 who died.

“I am sorry for getting a small bit emotional,” said the former Army ranger, who is one of the quietest-spoken TDs in the Dáil, “but if grief is indeed the price we pay for love, and if mourning is indeed the eventual cost of companionship, then it is absolutely clear from what we have seen over the last few days that these people were hugely respected and will be terribly missed in their community.”

The Government has promised to do everything it can to help the community overcome this tragedy. And beyond that are words. They are important, because they are the words of a nation and they are official words which, in years to come, people will be able to revisit and recall their loved ones with affection and pride.

“We put our arms around the bereaved and the injured,” said the Taoiseach. “We pledge to support this community now and in the time ahead as it comes to terms with this trauma. We remember those who have died: Hugh, Robert, Martina, Martin, James, Catherine, Jessica, Leona, James and Shauna. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.”

And after everything was said, the House stood and observed a minute’s silence.

And there were no words, just the ticking of the gallery clock and the Seanad bell ringing in the distance.