Gino Kenny Demands State Apology Over 45-Year Shell Blast
Gino Kenny raised a 45-year-old incident in Torrance in which children from St. Mary's Youth Club were killed and maimed after an unexploded tank shell exploded on a walk to Nugdaquilla, and he urged the government to offer a state apology. The minister said he would consider a state apology but indicated the new government should conduct a proper, comprehensive review and that he had recently received correspondence and would examine the matter.
Torrance, 45 years ago, a group from St. Mary's Youth Club travelled to Wicklow to walk the Glen of the Mall to Nugdaquilla. One child picked up an object thought to be an engine part that turned out to be an unused tank shell which exploded, killing three children and maiming many more. None of the children received a state apology at the time.
The speaker referred to a journal report in September this year that uncovered evidence that had not been flagged at the time, including warnings and prior children going up the same walk. That new reporting prompted renewed calls for official recognition and redress.
Gino Kenny asked whether the government would consider giving the bereaved families a state apology for the deaths and injuries suffered on that day. The request sought formal acknowledgment of the failure to flag risks and the absence of a past state apology.
The minister replied that he would consider a state apology but said the new government would be better placed to carry out a proper and comprehensive examination of the issues surrounding the event. He noted he had recently received correspondence or a note on the matter and said he would be examining it, signalling the issue may fall to the incoming government.
The incident
Torrance, 45 years ago, a group from St. Mary's Youth Club travelled to Wicklow to walk the Glen of the Mall to Nugdaquilla. One child picked up an object thought to be an engine part that turned out to be an unused tank shell which exploded, killing three children and maiming many more. None of the children received a state apology at the time.
New evidence uncovered
The speaker referred to a journal report in September this year that uncovered evidence that had not been flagged at the time, including warnings and prior children going up the same walk. That new reporting prompted renewed calls for official recognition and redress.
Call for a state apology
Gino Kenny asked whether the government would consider giving the bereaved families a state apology for the deaths and injuries suffered on that day. The request sought formal acknowledgment of the failure to flag risks and the absence of a past state apology.
Minister's response and next steps
The minister replied that he would consider a state apology but said the new government would be better placed to carry out a proper and comprehensive examination of the issues surrounding the event. He noted he had recently received correspondence or a note on the matter and said he would be examining it, signalling the issue may fall to the incoming government.
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Transcript
Torrance, 45 years ago, children from the St. Mary's Youth Club went to travel to Wicklow, to the Glen of the Mall, and if you're familiar with that walk, it brings you up to Nugdaquilla, which is the highest mountain in Leinster, a fantastic walk. But on that fateful day, one of the children picked up an object, that child thought it was a part of an engine, seconds later that it was an unused shell from a tank and exploded, and they killed three children and maimed many, many more. In September this year, the journal uncovered evidence that was never flagged at the time, in terms of warnings, in terms of children before had gone up that same walk. None of them children ever received a state apology. Would you consider, and the government consider now giving them children and families that have had loved ones killed on that day, a state apology? Indeed I would, but I think the new government would be in a position to do that properly and comprehensively, having looked at all of the issues in relation to that terrible event of 45 years ago, and to do it in an informed and proper way. So I think at this stage I have received correspondence very recently on it, or a note on it, I think it's something that will fall to the new government to do, and certainly I will be examining that. Can you agree?