THE CHAIRMAN OF a GAA club in Monaghan which was destroyed by a sinkhole has told of his shock after the chasm opened up across the club’s land. 

Francis Jones, who is the chairman of Magheracloone GAA Club, said the community has been left reeling by the incident. 

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Jones said that the area will be without its community centre and GAA facilities for a number of years. 

He said: “The pitch is unusable. They’re not allowing anyone on the site at the moment. We have top wait and see the report to see what caused it – I don’t want to say yet what caused it until we get full extent of report.

“The biggest thing is the shock of it and the devastation to the football club and the community centre. It’s all out of bounds for us now. Thankfully local clubs have contacted us and allowed us use their facilities so they have.”

The Health and Safety Authority said: “We are aware that an old section of the Gypsum mine in the area (no longer in use) has collapsed. We are not aware of injuries as a result and we will follow up with the company as appropriate.”

Gardaí confirmed that officers were at the scene, and said the school had been evacuated as a precaution.

Monaghan County Council also has engineers on site.