A MIDLANDS TD wants legislation on scrap-metal dealing following the theft of a monument dedicated to the memory of young people from Co Laois who had died in tragic circumstances.
Residents of Castletown, Mountrath, Co Laois, awoke on Friday to discover the 10ft bronze, copper and brass sculpture had been wrenched from its foundations on the banks of the river Nore. The metal sculpture of a tree – broken off midway to represent lives cut short – is thought to have been stolen for its scrap-metal value.
The theft of the monument, inscribed with the names and ages of more than 30 young men, women and children from the area, has caused great upset.
Michael Grehan lost three children – Michael jnr (6), Siobhán (7) and Michelle (3) – as a result of a house fire in Castletown on Christmas Eve in 1991. “I’m sick to the stomach,” said Mr Grehan. “I lost family in 1991 in a house fire and the three of them are represented on the plaque. That was a devastating time for me.”
Calling for the return of the monument, Mr Grehan said it “represented all the kids who lost their lives in the community over a long period of time”.
Describing the thieves as “mindless human beings”, he said the monument had enabled the community to share their grief at a location other than the graveyard.
According to Mary Keenan, who lost her brother through illness, “it brings back all the sadness of when we lost people here”. She said the price it was likely to make as scrap was nothing compared to the “emotional and sentimental value” it had for the people of Castletown.
Another resident, Jack Bergin, said the sculpture was erected by the community with the assistance of the late Fr Edward Rhatigan in 2000. The total cost of the project at the time was £30,000.
He believes the thieves used more then one vehicle to take the sculpture to a nearby laneway and on to the main Dublin-Limerick road. Local people placed boulders in front of the gate leading to the monument following a failed attempt to steal it a fortnight ago.
Laois-Offaly TD and Castletown resident Seán Fleming (FF) believes this crime cannot happen unless someone buys the metal.
“It’s widespread now in the last number of months, right throughout the country. Scrap metal is being stolen everywhere.
“I’m really calling for legislation to deal with scrap metal . . . They all must be licensed and be able to prove where they are purchasing the material from,” he said.