Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is my first opportunity to condemn in the strongest possible manner the mindless and senseless vandals who climbed to the top of Carrauntoohil to cut down the high cross. It was also an invasion of private property; it is private property, even though the owners do not mind people climbing it. The vandals also stole the plaque which had been erected by Beaufort Community Council in 1976. One of the people who helped to put it there is a great friend of mine and many other Members, Councillor Danny Kissane. Beaufort Community Council is incensed, as is everybody in Killarney, County Kerry and throughout the nation. There have been numerous offers of help, thank God, to have it re-erected as quickly as possible. I am assuming that more than one person was involved as an angle grinder had to be carried up the mountain to dismantle it. Luckily, it can be re-erected and, as I said, there are numerous offers of help in that regard, including from Liebherr Container Cranes Limited in Killarney and the people who work in it.

It is an important landmark on the top of that mountain and many people who climb it like to be photographed on it as proof they made the climb. Please God it will be re-erected but why anyone would do such a dastardly deed is beyond comprehension, and I hope society is not going down that road. I do not know what is behind it but I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.