Metal thieves take memorial to dead young people

RESIDENTS of a Co Laois town have called for the return of a monument dedicated to the memory of young people who died in tragic circumstances.

Residents of the scenic village of Castletown, Mountrath, Co Laois, awoke on Friday morning to discover the 3m-high bronze, copper and brass sculpture had been wrenched from its foundations on the banks of the River Nore.

The sculpture of a tree — broken off midsection to represent lives cut short — is thought to have been stolen for its scrap metal value.

The theft of the monument, which was inscribed with the names and ages of more than 30 young men, women and children from the area, has caused great upset in the community.

Michael Grehan lost three children, Michael Jr, 6, Siobhan, 7, and Michelle, 3, as a result of a house fire in Castletown on Christmas Eve 1991.

“I’m sick to the stomach,” said Mr Grehan, who described the thieves as “mindless human beings”.

“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,” said Mr Grehan.

Calling for the return of the monument, he said “it represented all the kids who lost their lives in the community over a long period of time”.

He said the monument had enabled the community to share its 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”.

“There is just a sense of loss in the community. I know myself when I heard it was missing on Friday, there was just a sense of something missing or a hole in our lives,” she said.

Another resident, Jack Bergin, said the sculpture was erected by the community with the help of the late Fr Edward Rhatigan in 2000. The total cost of the project was £30,000.

Laois/Offaly TD and Castletown resident Sean Fleming (FF) said this type of crime cannot happen unless there was someone willing to buy the metal.

“It’s widespread now in the last number of months right throughout the country. Scrap metal is being stolen everywhere.”

Mr Fleming insisted that action needed to be taken.

“I’m really calling for legislation to deal with scrap metal at this stage. They all must be licensed and be able to prove where they are purchasing the material from.”

The theft of the sculpture was the second major incident in the past week.

Mr Fleming said: “Just three nights before the incident here in Castletown village, further down the road in the same parish, over 2km of telephone cable were stripped off the poles during the night by people with lorries.”

The theft of the copper wire left many in the area without phone services for a couple of days, said Mr Fleming.