One of the historic gates of Dublin’s Phoenix Park, restored in 2021 as part of a €800,000 three-year-long conservation project, has had to be removed after a Dublin City Council lorry became wedged in the entrance.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) said the 190-year-old Cabra Gate has been damaged and its “structural integrity has been compromised” following the incident on Monday.
The council lorry carrying construction equipment attempted to leave the park, which is managed by the OPW, at approximately 4pm on Monday via the narrow Cabra gate which opens on to Blackhorse Avenue.
The front cab of the vehicle passed through the gate posts, but the body became jammed between the two iron gates damaging the gate to the left of the lorry. The gate was subsequently removed, freeing the lorry.
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“The Office of Public Works [OPW] inspected the gate with the initial assessment being that its structural integrity has been compromised,” an OPW spokeswoman.
“The next steps will be to seek further expert advice on the repair and conservation of this gate. A costing cannot be estimated until these expert [pieces of] advice have been received.”
The gates, along with six other sets were removed at the time of Pope Francis’s open-air Mass in the park in August 2018. The OPW decided to repair the gates, which it said needed “significant refurbishment” before replacing them.
The gates had previously been removed and reinstalled for the Eucharistic Congress in 1932 and again in 1979 for the visit of Pope John Paul II.
Following the pope’s visit, plain stainless steel security gates were erected as a temporary measure. The project was due originally for completion in 2019 at a cost of approximately €800,000, but was delayed until 2020. Work restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic meant the sets were not fully replaced until mid-2021.
The Cabra entrance had been designated as part of the route of the park’s first public bus service, but in March 2022 the project was put on hold when it emerged it was too narrow for buses.
The new bus route was to run from Heuston station to Broombridge station in Cabra. A bus route eventually began operating in the park in May of last year. However, this service only operates from Park Gate Street to the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and back, using the far wider entrance at the east end of Chesterfield Avenue, which no longer has gates.
Dublin City Council did not respond to queries about Monday’s incident and the damage caused by its lorry.
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