Mise Raifteirí an file, gan ceann ar mo gualainn

A much-loved Gaelic bard ruthlessly decapitated by late night revellers was re-united with his missing head yesterday following an appeal to the public for help in tracing it.

Community leaders in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, expressed delight that the granite head of late 18th-century poet Anthony Raftery, who is best known for his lyrical poem in Irish Mise Raifteirí an file, had been located.

Gardaí had been alerted to the “beheading’’ some days ago following a late-night drinks party in the Sculpture Park at the former railway station in Kiltimagh where the 6ft 4in high sculpture was located.

Concerned residents had been searching drains and ditches since for the missing head without success.

They even issued an appeal to the culprits suggesting that “no further heads might roll’ if the head was returned damaged.

Following a tip-off yesterday morning, the head was recovered in the Kilkelly area, about 9km from Kiltimagh.

Welcoming the fact it had been located, Joe Kelly, chief executive of Kiltimagh IRD, said the granite memorial was a tourist attraction, an important local heritage artifact.

Nancy Lavan, group chairwoman, said: “It appears the head must have been taken away in the boot or the back seat of a car.”

While welcoming the fact the head had been found and could be bolted back in its rightful position, local civic leaders have bemoaned the vandalism which led to the statue being damaged in the first place.

“There appears to be too many late-night/early-morning drinks parties in the sculpture park,” said retired businessman Brian Mooney.

“The place was littered with cans and bottles on the morning after the statue was damaged. Part of the problem seems to be that those too young to get into pubs are frequenting and bringing drink into public areas.”

The memorial to Raftery, who was born in Killedan, near Kiltimagh, in the late 1700s, was made 20 years ago by Dublin-based stone carver Benedict Byrne.