Woman with Westmeath links speaks on podcast about sister's tragic death in Creeslough

A sister of Jessica Gallagher, one of the victims of last year's explosion in Creeslough, Donegal, has spoken on a podcast about her family's tragic loss and its aftermath.

Lisa Gallagher, Jessica's sister, is married to Rosemount man Enda Boland and previously played gaelic football locally for the Cill Óige ladies club. Lisa and Enda are currently living in California.

Saturday (October 7) marks the one-year anniversary of the blast which resulted in ten people being killed and a further eight injured.

Lisa was interviewed about the tragedy on a new episode of the Soul Brew podcast which is hosted by Creeslough natives Stephen Doak and Aidan Hunter.

She told the hosts she was now based in Santa Rosa, about an hour north of San Francisco.

"There are some similarities with home. Everyone's friendly. The only thing is there's no GAA, which makes my life a bit harder. But otherwise it's good here," she said.

During the podcast episode, entitled 'Creeslough One Year On', Lisa opened up about her experience and memory of that day, and how the events unfolded.

She spoke about some of the toughest moments in the aftermath of the incident, and called on members of the public and journalists to be empathetic and considerate in their social media use after such a tragic event.

Lisa said she and her family were "hounded" by some media outlets after their loss, and that the only outlet they had been happy to speak to was the local Highland Radio station.

She spoke about how the shock of what happened didn't begin to wear off until March of this year.

"It was such a surreal experience that your brain just says, 'no, we're not doing this, we're going to pretend there's nothing here'," she said.

She offered encouragement to others affected by the tragedy not to bottle it up inside but instead to speak to someone about what happened.

"This is my feeling, especially around older people in Creeslough, who think, 'oh, I don't want to talk to anybody about it'.

"My thing is, if you don't do it you'll build habits to cope. These mightn't be very good habits, and you'll pass them down to your kids and your grandchildren.

"You have to confront (your thoughts) because if you don't you're starting off a cycle that is very hard to end."

Her sister was just 24 years old when she died. When asked on the podcast about what message she thinks Jessica would like to send out to the world, Lisa replied, "I would say: Push your boundaries.

"In Jessica's 24 years she did a lot - much more than I ever did in 24 years. I think that's a good example to live by. She went off and did things."

Lisa also expressed her gratitude to the locals in Creeslough who had given her family "so much support" over the last year.

Her appearance on the Soul Brew podcast episode 'Creeslough One Year On' is available now on podcast platforms, and it can also be listened to here: