160 replies to this topic

[Bettina]

Here are the tree main National papers

The Irish Times: http://www.ireland.com/about/contact/
The Irish Times
The Irish Times Building,
PO Box 74,
24-28 Tara Street,
Dublin 2
Ireland
The Irish Times Editorial
+353 1 675 8000, newsdesk@irish-times.ie
Letters to the Editor
+353 1 675 8000, lettersed@irish-times.ie

Irish Independent: http://www.unison.ie/contact_us/
Irish Independent
Independent House
27-32 Talbot Street
Dublin 1
Phone: +353 (0)1 705 5333
independent.letters@independent.ie

The Irish Examiner:
http://www.irishexam...eral-qqqx=1.asp
The Irish Examiner
The City Quarter
Lapps Quay,
Cork
Ireland
+353 21 4272722
editor@examiner.ie

Bettina

[shiny]

It looks like people are getting organised to defend Ireland's heritage, with the announcement of the "Heritage Protection Alliance Of Ireland".

http://www.megalithi...p...229&forum=2

[Bettina]

Shiny,

Thank you very much for this information. It must be brand new. Even the Save Tara organisations have nothing on their sites yet. I send it out immediately.
I also will ask the coordinators, if they could include Grianan Aileach under the cirumstances.

An email reached me today from Australia. Someone kindly forwarded all the information to the Dry Stone Wall Association over there (http://www.astoneupo....com/index.html).

Please let me know, how you get on.
It is so bad here at the moment. They built an appartment complex beside the crumbling remains of a 12th century Norman castle with an arm stretch between them, hoping that the rest of the castle will eventually disappear all together.

I hope with all my heart, that the tide can be turned.

[Bettina]

This morning the monument was temporarily closed and workers marked a few spots on the south-west side with paint. Here are two close-ups and one to put it in context of the location. The line marked M is just below the man's bagpack. There are two smaller lines (clock wise) with no letter.
Would anyone know, what purpose they could have?

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[ocd]

bettina

they could be areas that they're going to try to reinforce, but I'm just guessing.

to keep you posted I e-mailed a letter to several of the papers you suggested, I'll post a copy to some of them too, and send you a copy for reference.

I also e-mailed the dry stone walling site that shiny posted on this thread and I gave them your web address and asked them to look at grianan aileach.

whether anything will come of it or not I don't know

ocd

[shiny]

Alphabetically they're marked as "L" and "M", so there should be lines marked as "A" to "K" somewhere. (Maybe).

[Bettina]

OCD,

Thank you very much for this great effort.
I have no idea, what the OPW is up to this time. Everything they have done during the last years has been shrouded in mystery.  I will contact a couple of journalists again and ask them, if they could get a statement from them, concerning their plans for the monument.

Shiny,

I checked the whole monument, outside and inside, and couldn't find any other marks or letters.
Maybe OCD is right and they are going to take this section of the wall down to put the solid concrete fill in as they have done at the gate.

A few more pictures from inside the gate.

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[shiny]

"Ladies" and "Mens"?

[Bettina]

Shiny,

There are so many holes in this one building ...

I felt bad to laugh at your comment, but looking fierce all the time is not helping either.
An alternative has been already found: storage.

Photo taken May 21, 2007 but it's there since April.

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[Bettina]

This afternoon a lorry arrived at Grianan Aileach with scaffolding and work began to erect it at the section marked three weeks ago.
Besides the men from the scaffolding hire two workers from the Office of Public Works were on site. I asked them, if they could tell me, what sort of work would be carried out and when this work is expected to be started, since it is the beginning of our very short tourism season. The answer to both questions was, that they don't know.

The marked out section of the wall overlaps the same part of the wall which collapsed in 2000, 2003 and 2005. It has been already rebuilt  three times in the last seven years, bringing it up to four times in this short period. It raises very serious questions over the conduct of the Office of Public Works and the amount of money wasted in the process.

I attach a map below of the monument. The two red lines indicate the extend of the markings.

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[Bettina]

Stones have been numbered again, both on the inside and outside. What most likely means, that this part of the wall will be taken down again. Since no information is available, it remains to be seen, if even more concrete is being poured into this former dry stone monument. But it could be concluded, that the Office of Public Works has concerns or at least doubts, that its own construction might be unsound and therefore poses a risk of collapse.

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[ocd]

Bettina

Some of the numbering of the stones seems strange especially the last photo you've posted.

I hope they get it right this time

ocd

[Bettina]

OCD,

I can't work out either, what system or logic they have applied. And since the media shows little or no interest, there is no one to get a statement from the Office of Public Works. It seems, they do as they please without any restriction through accountability. It is in the worst sense possible, the most astonishing display of work ethos to demolish a wall which has been already three times rebuilt in the last few years.

On Monday, June 18, they started to dismantle the marked section of the wall. Although I should be used to it by now, it still hurts to see this once so proud monument torn apart.

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[Bettina]

Today, June 20, I visited Grianan after the workers had left, to take a closer look.
The inside of the wall had been filled with gravel and soil during previous works on the 2000, 2003 and 2005 collapse of this section, replacing the stones, which form a scrapheap close to the monument. Only the upper part and the outside on both sides had been concreted.
I assume that a solid concrete fill will be poured into the core again as has been done last year on the opposite gate section.
Besides the fact that Grianan Aileach still has no foundation, which is crucial to the stability of such construction, this section is still flanked by the concrete on top and outside only design. Which leaves this tourist attraction dangerously unsound and there will be no need to take the scaffolding of the site after work has finshed.
I give it another two to three years, just to bring the time the Office of Public Works spent on their work at Grianan to a round ten years. More than twice the time Dr. Walter Bernard needed over 130 years ago, as he found the monument very dilapidated. From then on it will be wait and see, how long Grianan Aileach can remain standing without a foundation.

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[Bettina]

And speaking of the gate; I look closely before passing through.

The concrete in the first photo is loose and can be pulled out as can the stones surrounding it.
In the second cracks appeared between the stones and concrete and will probably loosen soon.
Both  pictures were take from the inside of the gate, left side.

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