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A GARDA INVESTIGATION is underway after a memorial commemorating those who died in World War I was vandalised in Ennis, Co Clare.
Former Mayor of Ennis, Mary Howard said she was “so angry” to find the memorial, which commemorates local people who died in the conflict, had been vandalised by a “spineless coward using a hammer or some such blunt implement”.
“This sort of behaviour is unacceptable as the memorial means so much to so many and has become an integral part of the built heritage of this town,” Howard wrote on Facebook.
The memorial which came about after a number of years of fundraising is worth about €70,000 according to Howard and was erected on 11 November 2016 to mark Armistice Day.
11 November marks the signing of the treaty that ended World War I and is commemorated every year.
Every year, a moment of silence is held on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to remember those that died in the war that ended in 1918.
The Fine Gael councillor said that a number services had taken place at the memorial since its completion and up until now “not as much as a wreath has been touched”.
Howard told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1:
“To think that somebody went there and that their motive was to destroy it is heartbreaking.
“Over 700 people from Clare died in World War I conflict, so, so many people are connected to it and visit it all the time.
“We were a number of years trying to fundraise and get it off the ground, it’s just over two years completed and we had it ready for our Armistice Day celebration in 2016.”
Howard said that while the memorial will be replaced the committee is currently waiting to find out if the damage will be covered by insurance or if they will have to fundraise again.
The Ennis councillor told TheJournal.ie that the replacement glass panel is expected to cost an estimated five or six thousand euro.
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Two months is better than nothing.
Well done Turkiye. The EU has treated Turkiye like dirt for 40 years.
@Gavan Hogan: turkey has treated its own people like dirt…and still continue to deny the Armenian genocide and death match…so yea…turkey ain’t no choir boy…
@Gavan Hogan: Turkiye buying cheap oil and grain of Ukraine then selling it onto Europe. Suppose it’s a way around the sanctions anyway
@Gavan Hogan: What about the Kurds?
@Shaun Gallagher: Turkiye applied for EEC membership from the start, before Ireland. If they were now an EU member state, the politics would have been different.
However, EU has rejected Turkish membership and now Turkiye is an independant country in NATO that finds itself in a position of power broker in the Ukraine – Russia war.
In this situation the Turkish president has shown that good international diplomacy can exist in a NATO country.
@Aido: What about the wax in my left ear.
@William slevin: Ireland is not a member of NATO. Ireland has no say in international wars. Turkiye joined NATO in 1952. Ireland refuses to join NATO. Turkiye has a position in world politics. Ireland won’t even join the EU military alliance. What a weak and insipid country, but Irish people expect that ” someone else ” will protect you.
@Gavan Hogan: turkey is run by a dictator. Its human rights record is terrible and they occupy northern Cyprus.
@Gavan Hogan: you like war so much on your bike and take your gun with you
Ru zz skis have no choice but to renew or else Nato Navy will be forced to do the escorting in the Black Sea, Poo tin can’t afford to lose face from such an eventuality
Wow. Thanks Russia. Hungry people thank you.
How benevolent of them. Fascist cochons.
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