Inishowen

Contact

A BUNCRANA resident has written to the Taoiseach in an effort to get her concerns about restoration work at Grianan of Aileach Fort addresses. In an open letter, sent last Thursday, Bettina Linke insists that because of successive rounds of ‘poor restoration work’ at the historic site since 2000, the fort must be completely dismantled and built again from scratch. She says it was a mistake to have reinforced the dry-stone structure with concrete and that this policy has made it unsafe.
“Six and a half years and three highly paid specialists later, Grianan Aileach still remains under construction and a very doubtful one at that. Inishowen’s garden walls are better built, in both engineering and finish . Unfortunately the only possibility to make good the poor restoration work done is to dismantle the monument and to rebuild it to its original design with not a trowel of concrete in sight. The falsely enforced wall of Grianan Aileach, with no foundation to hold this construction, will collapse again and again,” she states in her letter.
The Office of Public Works has carried out repair work at the historic site over the last seven years. Ms Linke believes this work has left Grianan Fort structurally unsound. There is, she says, a danger that a section of the wall will collapse while the attraction is open to visitors.

“It worries me that the walls could collapse again. I was up at Grianan Aileach yesterday and I saw holes in the outside wall that I didn’t see two weeks ago,” she told the Inishowen Independent.
The German, who has lived in Inishowen for over ten years, stresses in her letter to Mr Ahern that better efforts should be made to preserve key historical landmarks such as Grianan Fort.
“Well-built dry stone monuments are known to last millenniums, amongst them the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Greek Parthenon and our very own Newgrange. Concreting this heritage will prove in time to be a most misconceived concept regarding tourism on this island. With hardly any other resources left, it should be worth to reconsider the shape and form of efforts made concerning improvements on the past, present and future of this island.”

The same day the Derry Journal published the open letter.

"A monumental mess-up at Grianan" kindly written by the columnist Frank Galligan.

Meanwhile at the forum on the Stone Pages two members took much appreciated interest into the concerns surrounding Grianan Aileach and I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone for their support.

The full discussion can be read under Grianan Of Aileach Fort Restoration, An 'act Of Cultural Vandalism'

It was also there, where I was made aware of the foundation of the Heritage Protection Alliance of Ireland (press release here). If there was ever something that was so desperatly needed and clocked in with not a second to spare, that would be it. Ireland is on the brink of annihilating the very essence of itself, where progress is measured in how powerful a few self-appointed can get in the shortest amount of time with as many of ordinary people depending on their gratitude and say so.

If the line can't be drawn at Tara, then there is no hope for Ireland and certainly not for any other heritage site on this island.

Like the very dangerously flawed work carried out at Grianan; if fundamental mistakes are not rectified, the house will fall.

A receipt arrived for the letter to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern

May is not over yet ...

And then one letter of receipt arrived from the Office of Public Works.

By the time this letter was delivered, both Tom Parlon TD, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Dick Roche TD, Minister for the Enviroment, Heritage and Local Goverment had left the equation.

But as at Tara, the weeks of limbo as far as accountability or responsibility is concerned, election time has been put to good use. On May 21, workers for the Office of Public Works marked the south-west part of Grianan Aileach's wall, indicating that this section is going to be at least partially dismantled.