Engage with locals in fight to save tower

WITH reference to Ailin Quinlan’s article, “Drive for funds to save tower ahead of winter” in your October 28 issue, I wish to make the following comments:

I am delighted to learn through The Irish Examiner that Alice Taylor is spearheading a campaign to raise funds for the repair of St Mary's Tower, Innishannon and news of local Cllr Kevin Murphy applying for a Heritage Council grant.

In March, I wrote to An Taisce to highlight my concern about the state of the tower and impact of its neglected state on the burial ground and church walls.

I was encouraged by an immediate email acknowledgement which also put me in touch with the Irish Heritage Council in Kilkenny.

I received good advice from a representative of the Irish Heritage Council and proceeded to follow up the advice at a local level. It is at the local government/community level that I have met a mixture of muteness and a general feeling of being given the run-around.

I would add that I have relatives buried in the graveyard and am aware of the distress caused by the neglect of this burial ground and the surrounding area.

I hope that the group mentioned in your article, which is led by Cllr Murphy and Alice Taylor, will have the generosity of spirit to communicate what they are doing to the many local people who have, over many years, contacted local government officials entrusted with the stewardship of the tower and cemetery. During this time, the tower has been allowed to disintegrate and to the outsider there seems to have been an attitude among local officials that the tower's eventual collapse was inevitable.

My abiding concern is the lack of accountability.

There has been similar publicity about funding in the past. However, action to physically secure the tower from collapse has been so indecisive that the tower stands as a ruin today.

Marie-Louise Holland

Oxford Road

Cambridge CB4 3PH

England