Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE DEER STONE monument in Glendalough, a more than 1,000-year-old bullaun stone at the heart of the national park in the Wicklow mountains, has been damaged by fire in what appears to be an act of vandalism.
The granite stone with a hollow depression at its centre, which is linked to a legend about St Kevin involving deer, was found burnt and cracked by Pat Reid of the Glendalough Heritage Forum after he heard there might have been a fire at the site last week.
The extent of the damage is not yet fully known and a report has been compiled by the National Monuments Service, which has responsibility for national monuments, according to Reid who spoke to The Journal today.
The fire is believed to have been lit last Thursday night. Reid heard about the fire on Sunday after an Office of Public Works (OPW) staff member discovered the damage.
“The manager of the OPW here mentioned to me that they thought they had a fire in it prior to the weekend but she hadn’t really had time to look at it so I went out and had a look and discovered the cracks in it and the extent of the damage,” he said.
Asked if it looked as if there was evidence of a campfire, such as rubbish and debris, Reid said that it seemed more likely that the culprits were using the stone to cook.
“In fact there’s very little ash that would be associated with a campfire. So the thinking now is maybe they were using it to cook a barbeque very late at night because nobody seems to have seen it. Or that they just put accelerants into it, maybe petrol or something like that and et fire to it.”
Reid says the site is not exactly “session-orientated”.
“It’s not the kind of place that you would sit around, you know it’s just not comfortable. It’s not set up that way.”
“There seems to be no motivation for it. That’s the thing. It just seems like senseless vandalism.”
Reid says that maybe people were trying to cook on the stone because the temperature needed to put three large cracks in a granite boulder is very high.
“I find it hard that people would do such a thing on purpose,” he says. “I think it’s just complete and utter disrespect, disregard for our national heritage.”
There have been other incidents in which heritage sites have been damaged in recent years, such as the graffiti scratched into a Neolithic burial monument in Co Meath in April 2021 and the spray painted graffiti left on the Lia Fáil standing stone monument in on the Hill of Tara, Co Meath in February of this year.
Pointing to those examples, and the fact that Heritage Week is coming up this Saturday, Reid says that public education is a necessity if these incidents of vandalism are to be prevented.
“It’s a good time to remind people that we need to protect, not take for granted our heritage, be it built, cultural or natural heritage. This can’t be sustained, we need to stop this.”
The concern now that the damage has been done is the effects of the coming winter, when low nighttime temperatures will cause freeze-thaw action and widen the cracks.
Read more here on how to support a major Noteworthy project to examine if Ireland’s historic sites are at risk of disappearing.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Gave up at neo liberal
@SFNutters: the words were too difficult for you? Maybe you might have better luck with this: https://www.cjfallon.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/photo41.jpg
@SFNutters: what an awful article. Full of non-supported arguments, logical fallacies and sweeping generalisations. Turgid stuff. Frankly, we should be measuring things because then we can improve or discard them. The fact that Mary (Jane/ Joe / John) grew up in an area and has a heart DOESN’T necessarily make him/her the right person to help those in need. The author admits addiction is a complex subject but wants only simple solutions delivered by simple people. It was hard to read and complete nonsense.
@lambda sensor: don’t know why you’re trying to discuss it with him. He said he didn’t read it. I do agree that it was full of nonsense, though.
@SFNutters: , Don’t you know anybody with basic level English who would read it for you and explain the the difficult words.
@SFNutters: great bit of stuff
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: their getting plenty of thumbs up
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: their getting plenty of thumbs up for there comment
Plenty of accusations in that article but no examples, case studies or even a full explanation of the alledged cons of either ‘professionalism’ or a ‘managerial’ approach. Reads as a politician who is writing merely to draw attention to themselves without actually achieving anything.
@Vocal Outrage: here’s an example. Medical care is privatised in the US. Insulin costs far more than all or most other countries. People are dying. I live in Denmark. Have to have a minor hernia operation. From the time I seen the doctor until my operation next week. About 5/6 weeks. Won’t cost me a penny apart from what I’ve paid in tax. I’m thankful I don’t live in America.
@Dave Thomas: but not an example of the accusations being made in the article, that’s just an example of neo-liberalism with no reference to Ireland
Did she get the tattoos to match the dress, or the dress to match the tattoos?!?!?
@Maximus Decimus Meridius: not the greatest of comments there!
Exactly. Too many publican TDs pretending addiction ISN’T their business….
@The Risen: Ditto, and if addiction issues were solved there would be a fair few charlatans out of work along with a small cohort of genuine workers
Professionalisation and metrics are vital tools in ensuring government funding is put to the best use. Community projects and those they serve can only benefit from proper standards and controls. Those who resist will not survive. What will their service users do them Ms Ruanne ?
Neo liberalism = cut throat self employment with little reward and insecure retirement for the masses.
@Gav Murphy: I think you’re mixing up neo-liberalism with libertarianism. The later fits better with your description whereas neo-liberalism is defined academically as a ‘third-way of politics’ in that it is a middle ground between the right and the left
@Vocal Outrage: It’s meaning has changed over time. Thatcher and Reagan were hardly ‘middle ground between the right and left’ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
Sadly it is a business – some many hangerson, all the €€€s go to the councilors and clinic and not the victims – just like the homeless racket
@Peter Buchanan: correct, it is a business. People working in the field need to be paid, premises need to be paid for, services need to be paid for & all the funds need to be accountable. The service users are not objects but they are customers in the sense that high numbers are needed to receive high funding. It’s a business just like medical, phara or any other service being provided.
@Mark Dowling: there is a book called RGM recovery group movement$$%%%%%$$$
@Aine Power,
I smell a tad of begrudgery there,I dont the
writing is particulary well written but she is entitled to her oppinion .
Sick of these absolute hypocrites, take a senators salary and can’t write an absolute original article, I have a PhD from Trinity and it’s like a second year essay. Its trite full of quotes from other people.
@Aine Power: Brilliant! So what you have just decreed is that you have a phd and it like a second year essay. It must beg the question? How did manage to receive the PhD?
@Aine Power: thanks for clearing up your intellectual qualifications I await your life story in relation to your journey to PhD land …some people rise to the challenge and serve the people and earn the salary all be it via the alternative route of life experience
@Aine Power: hope you got someone to proof read your PHD.
I think the point she is trying to make is that “cost effective” or neoliberal measurement of addiction issue is likely to measure just the tip of the iceberg
its difficult to understand and measure, and thus easy to ignore or underestimate the complexity of addition as a medical, but mostly psycho-social problem. (addition, almost always runs with, mental illness, poverty, homelessness, unstable families or other personal trauma, physical illness, .. Etc..)
Thus risks attributing not enough of the resrouces to the wrong places, needed to tackle this issue.
Hands on, frontline workers should be given the opportunity to identify needs & suggest resource allocation. Not just some detached person in an office who 2
measures the problem & allocates resourced based on predetermined “check list” of “key performance indicators”, designed to keep down costs is likely to produces good “measured outcomes” which don’t translate into good care on the ground.
@Señor picante: if a politician is going to write an article thr reader shouldn’t have to ‘think the point she is trying to make’, the point they are trying to make should be clear and unambiguous with the reader expecting to think about the substance of the arguments made, not the point of the article itself
The person taking the drugs or whatever is the primary person responsible for their dilemma. There is no point in blaming anyone else. Socialists never seem to grasp or acknowledge that some people are the sole authors of their own misfortune.
I don’t have a degree or PhD but I believe I have a small degree of common sense and reasonable experience of addiction problems. The senators article for me is full of big words with little meaning without some concrete examples of her argument.
Addiction treatment is not a business but it must be run like a business, but where or how we measure the success is very difficult because the treatment of addiction to individuals is an ongoing treatment and can last a number of years success and statistics of a business tend to be yearly based.
Social care now
I agree with most of the criticisms of Sen Ruane’s statement.
In a spirit of debate, I would like to know in detail the alternatives that she proposes. It’s easy to be against something! It’s more challenging to propose alternatives in detail.
Tattoo s on a senator.im appalled.
You need to have walked a 100m in her shoes to understand difficulty in life..addiction…recovery and bettering of oneself …fancy phrasing and wine sipping bullshit just does not qualify as opinion
@Brotherofthebrush: as someone above highlighted, everyone is entitled to their opinion, just because you may not agree with it does not diminish that right
Well said Lynn. Thanks
have your say