Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The conservation architect to the project briefed the urban council in Cashel, particularly Councillor Tom Wood, and gave a commitment that the scaffolding would be in place for a maximum of five years. We are now into the eighth year. There are people in Tipperary who do not remember seeing the Rock of Cashel without scaffolding. That is how long it has been in place.

Nothing proved that the scaffolding is now almost as enduring as the Rock of Cashel itself than the visit two years ago by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. At that time, the people of Tipperary held their breath and thought that the scaffolding would surely come down but it did not. Many visitors on that weekend commented on the scaffolding. Many people who comment on the scaffolding and the fact that there is no accessibility to Cormac's Chapel are visitors from the US, Germany and the UK who feel that they have paid to see something and have left without seeing it entirely.

Whatever the explanations offered by the architectural gurus in the OPW, there is no excuse for the length of time taken to complete this project. If this was a private project or the Rock of Cashel was a private building, somebody would be facing bankruptcy. We need the Minister of State to call a halt, take the scaffolding down and give the Rock of Cashel back to the people of Tipperary and the rest of Ireland. Will the Minister ask the Minister of State to convey to the OPW the need to give these works priority; provide the necessary resources, personnel and skills that are required; and fund and expedite a conclusion to these works? Everybody understands the sensitive nature and the delicacy of the work involved but there are many people who cannot understand why it has been running over for so long and why we do not have a compact programme to conclude it.

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