Engineers say there's more subsidence near Monaghan sink hole site

MONAGHAN COUNTY COUNCIL has said that evidence of further subsidence has been discovered at the site of a sinkhole which devastated a GAA pitch and community centre last month.

In a statement, the council said it is continuing to deal with the issues arising from the serious incident which occurred in the early hours of Monday 24 September at  Magheracloone.

“The scheduled aerial survey carried out on 3 October has identified evidence of further subsidence outside the 120m radius disturbance zone established by Gyproc Ireland Limited, but within the original 2km area of assessment.

“This discovery reaffirms the need to maintain a safety cordon around the perimeter of the former underground mine at Drumgossat,” the statement read.

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

Speaking last week, 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 to wait and see the report to see what caused it – I don’t want to say yet what caused it until we get the 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.”