Lady Erin*

brianthebard

What is the general attitude towards this statute in sligo? Do you like it? Do you admire the artwork, the symbolism, the history? Does it bother you that it was vandalised and has not been repaired? When the yeats statue outside Ulster bank was damaged it was repaired quite quickly. Perhaps this is because the artist in question takes pride in the maintenance of his work, but even so, shouldn't the council have taken steps to repair Lady erin at this stage? If you agree, please email the county council, or the borough council, or any representatives that you feel will address this issue. below is the message I just sent out to both bodies and the mayors office, which you can use as a template or just copy and paste into a new email. I'll post any replies I get when I get them.
Part time busy body,
brianthebard.


To whom it may concern,



I am writing to you in relation to the Lady Erin statue at the end of Market street. As you are aware, it was vandalised several months ago, with quite serious damage being done to this historical monument. However the county council has not acted to restore this wonderful example of nineteenth century sculpture. Can you tell me why this is? Will repairs be carried out soon, and if so when? It is a poor reflection on the town, its residents and public representatives that nothing has been done to mend this beautiful statue. I hope there will be action on this issue soon.



Yours faithfully,

Brian















*(and not lady erne, you sp muppets)

JIZZLORD

i did a google image search


nasty

Jabby

brianthebard wrote: »

What is the general attitude towards this statute in sligo? Do you like it? Do you admire the artwork, the symbolism, the history? Does it bother you that it was vandalised and has not been repaired? When the yeats statue outside Ulster bank was damaged it was repaired quite quickly. Perhaps this is because the artist in question takes pride in the maintenance of his work, but even so, shouldn't the council have taken steps to repair Lady erin at this stage? If you agree, please email the county council, or the borough council, or any representatives that you feel will address this issue. below is the message I just sent out to both bodies and the mayors office, which you can use as a template or just copy and paste into a new email. I'll post any replies I get when I get them.
Part time busy body,
brianthebard.


To whom it may concern,



I am writing to you in relation to the Lady Erin statue at the end of Market street. As you are aware, it was vandalised several months ago, with quite serious damage being done to this historical monument. However the county council has not acted to restore this wonderful example of nineteenth century sculpture. Can you tell me why this is? Will repairs be carried out soon, and if so when? It is a poor reflection on the town, its residents and public representatives that nothing has been done to mend this beautiful statue. I hope there will be action on this issue soon.



Yours faithfully,

Brian















*(and not lady erne, you sp muppets)

I wouldn't hold my breath.

The Lady Erin Monument Overlooking the Market Cross, one of Sligo Town's busier shopping areas, is the Lady Erin Monument, which was erected in 1899 to honour the centenary celebrations for those men who had fought in the Insurrection of 1798.
Designed by the Dublin sculptor Herbert G. Barnes, the memorial, which is over sixteen feet high, was unveiled on September 3rd 1898 in front of a crowd of several thousand people.

guinnessdrinker

I think the location of the statue is wrong. Preferably it should be situated on the top of a street, not at the bottom of one. I can't really think of a better location though in fairness.

brianthebard

Whats a fair point gd,altho i think its fitting that its in a busy area,to be seen.Maybe somewhere on the river or o'connell st,or out side town hall?

T runner

I think the statue's location also marks the exact centre of the town with the borough being everything within an exact 2 miles radius from it in all directions. There are borough stones on some of the roads which presumably are two miles from it as the crow flies

Brain, do you have contact details for the CoCo offhand to send this letter/email on?

brianthebard

email for the coco is info@sligococo.ie



this is what I got from them;

Sligo County Council

Customer Services

Tel: 071 - 91 - 11111





Providing High Quality Services............



Dear Customer,



Your Customer Service Ticket Reference Number is: SO-08-3164



Should you wish to contact Sligo County Council in relation to your query, please quote your name or ticket reference number.



Our team will deal with your enquiry promptly and efficiently.



Thanking You



Customer Services Team





This is an automated email response .




I also emailed the borough at info@sligoborough.ie no reply yet. there is a list of representatives on here I emailed the mayor but I don't know if there is anyone better to contact. If anyone can take the time to email a representative or two that would be great, don't forget there are elections next year!

il gatto

Personally I'm disgusted. I honestly didn't realise the level of vandalism inflicted on it. I thought it was just spray paint. What is the mentallity of the thugish little b@stards who did this? If they have no appreciation of the history it's connected to, no appreciation of the asthetic value of it, they should at least have the decency to stay the f@ck away from it. In other countries any attack on something relating to their nationhood is severely dealt with. I suppose we can only expect appathy in a country where our flag flies 24 hours a day outside the court house instead of being lowered at sunset and where monuments such as this are ill served by the people charged with their care. The Teeling Memorial in Collooney is a prime example. Until recently, it was a jungle of briars and the parking area is closed off so there's pratically no access.
Moving the statue would do no good as Sligo is hardley big enough to have "good" areas and "bad" areas like Dublin etc. Sligo really has little enough in the way of monumental and architectual interest without having an important statue destroyed by ignorant, ill mannered little wastrels with no fear of the law.

TequilaMockingBird

I think originally she was looking onto the river, that there were no buildings opposite, which was probably a more "respectful" site for her. I guess the town planning system was a bit more lax back then!

Jabby

I'm afraid there is no hope for the mentality that carried out this mindless act.
You would sometimes wonder what goes through their minuscule brains a few minutes before they carry out such a thing.

One night there during the summer as I was walking down Harmony Hill, a young fella stopped and asked me for a cigarette and when he was refused duly spat into my face. It took all of my restraint not to go after him and beat the livin' lard out of him.

Where would I be if I did?

These cretins are only laughing at the guards, teachers, authority figures and all of us. They know that these days, a finger cannot be laid on them.
At the risk of sounding somewhat fascist (and please believe me I'm not)
there should never have been a blanket ban put on corporal punishment in schools.

As long as this pussy-footing around these people remains we will have to put up with all of this.

If these little f***ers were more fearful of the law they would think twice before they would do such things.

brianthebard

Eh,interesting contribution jabby,but slightly ot.Has anyone else emailed their public representatives?I can't check my email atm but will post any and all correspondance.

T runner

Brian

Just mailed the CoCo and Borough putting my name to your letter template.
Took less than a minute.

Just got the automated resonse and ticket number there from the CoCo

brianthebard

Thanks for helping t runner.Not sure how the ticket system works,but will look into it next wk.

takola

I emailed the borough and coco there. Just had the ticket reference email.

Your Customer Service Ticket Reference Number is: SO-08-3189

Will post if and when I receive a reply.

takola

Ok well that was quick. Just had a reply.

Message Subject: Lady Erin Statue

Ticket ID: SO-08-3189

Dear Amy,

Thank-you for contacting Sligo County Council's Customer Services desk.

The Co-ordinator for the refurbishment of the Lady Erin statue is Micheal Condren, who is based in Sligo Borough Council, Quay Street, Sligo. His contact details are: Tel: 071-9114440 and his e-mail address is mcondren@sligococo.ie

Mr. Condren is on annual leave until September 1st 2008.

I hope this is of help to you.

regards,


Sligo County Council

T runner

Got this reply (at very bottom) just now from CoCo giving another email address. Sending an email to this address now. ( mcondren@sligococo.ie ). Im pasting BriantheBard's letter templete below again for convenience for peple to copy and paste.

To whom it may concern,



I am writing to you in relation to the Lady Erin statue at the end of Market street. As you are aware, it was vandalised several months ago, with quite serious damage being done to this historical monument. However the county council has not acted to restore this wonderful example of nineteenth century sculpture. Can you tell me why this is? Will repairs be carried out soon, and if so when? It is a poor reflection on the town, its residents and public representatives that nothing has been done to mend this beautiful statue. I hope there will be action on this issue soon.



Yours faithfully,

Brian



Dear TRunner,
Thank you for contacting Sligo County Council's customer service desk.
The Co-Ordinator for the refurbishment of the Lady Erin statue is Micheal Condren, who is based in Sligo Borough Council, Quay Street, Sligo. His contact details are: tel: 071 - 9114440 and his e-mail address is mcondren@sligococo.ie

Mr. Condren is on annual leave until September 1st 2008.

I hope this is of help to you

Regards

brianthebard

Thanks for the update guys,and its good to know there is someone assigned to the job(altho why they had to pick someone who is on annual leave?)i expect we won't hear anything more until the first.Good work team!

TequilaMockingBird

Email sent. GO BRIAN!

Automated reply received as follows:

I am out of the office from 13th August to 1st September 2008

If your query is urgent you may wish to contact Mr Peter Gill or Mr. Hugh Glynn , Executive Parks Superintendents on 0719114400. Email pgill@sligococo.ie or hglynn@sligococo.ie

Micheal S Condren
Senior Executive Parks Superintendent

brianthebard

Thanks for the update sue.Did you email those two chaps?I might next wk,but doubt they'll say much other than that the guy in charge is gone away.

brianthebard

Update; I emailed mr. Condren on september 2nd, still no reply. Might send another later today. Anyone else get a chance to email him?

magnumlady

The Sligo Champion said today that Lady Erin will be getting a facelift.

Big_Mac

Email Sent

elshambo

brianthebard wrote: »

Update; I emailed mr. Condren on september 2nd, still no reply. Might send another later today. Anyone else get a chance to email him?

went past it the other say, seened to have been cleaned at the very least

Dont know if they should repair it though,disgrace that the muppets broke it but a statue is a statue, whats left of it is whats left of it

Then again it is a shame to see it with the arm etc gone?

anyhu good work fella!

Big_Mac

Response from Email sent

'Big_Mac'
Immediately following the vandalizing of the Lady Erin Statue specialist firms were requested to survey the damage and submit quotations for the repair and restoration work. As it is a protected Structure only a small number of firms are competent to carry out the Work and these were requested to submit quotes in May to carry out the work. Feelystone in Boyle submitted the lowest quotation and were awarded the contract to carry out the work. However they stated that they could only carry out the work in Sept This year. They are supposed to start next week
Work Includes repairs to her face and flag, The Carving of a new hand and the attaching of the hand to the arm that was broken off. She will also be cleaned and the base pointed.

Anthony Skeffington
SEE
Roads
Sligo Borough Council

Xiney

well then, that's good news!

Gillie

I see there is scaffolding around it today! Must be doing something!

TequilaMockingBird

They were working on it at 9am this morning.

il gatto

Unfortunately it's only a matter of time until it's destroyed again. Someone burned an unmarked Garda car across the road from the barracks last Friday morning. If they're that unafraid or the law, what hope has a statue?

Gillie

Maybe one of the Gaurds dropped a ciggy in the car???

(I know it's highly unlikely!)

il gatto

No. It was arson. Some of the usual suspects. Broken glass and fire service spill kit all over the place just below McLynns.

magnumlady

Nice to see Lady Erin restored:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnumlady/3119712671/