Ballinspittle's "moving statue" might not be drawing the thousands it did 12 years ago, but the faithful and the curious are gathering again amid reports that the Blessed Virgin statue is moving again. On a quiet weekday afternoon, the neatly-kept grotto, set into the hillside just outside the west Cork village, is attracting a brisk crowd, with up to 30 people at a time stopping off to pray. Some stay for hours, some for only a few minutes.
"This is our second time coming down in the past week," said Ms Ann Murphy from Turners Cross. "We've been coming down here for almost 15 years. We were here back in the 1980s when she moved and we've kept coming since."
Her two friends - one in her 40s and the other in her late 70s - explained that in 1985 it was Our Lady's body which moved, but so far this year it's only her head they have seen move. "It's mainly on Our Lady's feast days," said the older woman.
Asked why they thought the statue had started to move again, one replied: "It's all about prayer. She wants people to return to prayer. There's been an awful falling away from the church. Look at Saturday night Mass; there are very few young people at it. It's very sad."
For Mr Peter McDwyer and Ms Joyce O'Keeffe, both in their 20s and on holiday in nearby Garretstown, the grotto is just a very peaceful spot. "Some people seem to see it, mainly by night. I suppose it depends how long you've been looking at it," said Peter, adding he had visited the grotto in 1985 but couldn't remember if he had seen it move. Joyce said that like Doubting Thomas she would have to see it move herself before believing it could do so.
Asked about the church's view on the statue, a Cork and Ross diocesan spokesman said that in 1985, the late Bishop of Cork, Dr Michael Murphy, had urged people to approach the claims about Ballinspittle "with prudence and caution". The church's position had not changed since then, the spokesman said.