This article is from page 10 of the 2013-10-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
IT HAS finally been decided that the Kilrush Famine Memorial is to become part of the streetscape of Francis Street, but the town engineer will determine its exact location.
After much deliberation, Kilrush Town Council decided that the street where the 2013 National Famine Commemoration was held is to be the permanent home of the monument unveiled during the ceremony in May.
The local authority received just one response to a public consultation on the issues.
Groups and organisations involved with the commemoration had a number of suggestions however as to where in the town it should be located. Early suggestions that the Old Shanakyle Cemetery, where victims of the Great Irish Famine lay in a mass grave, would be the ideal location was ruled out.
Mayor of Kilrush Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind) said that the Kilrush and District Historical Society, the organisation that bid for the National Commemoration to be held in the heritage town, had indicated they would like the monument to be placed outside the town hall in the town square.
The mayor suggested relocating the dolphin sculpture in the square and placing the monument there.
At Thursday night’s meeting of the council, Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) said that the dolphin could not be moved as it was part of a dolphin trail.
Town manager Ann Haugh explained that the two locations being considered were either side of the town hall or at two locations on Francis Street.
Cllr Mairead O’Brien (Ind) who was mayor during the commemoration told the meeting that the Famine Commemoration Committee agreed that Francis Street, outside Noel Ryan’s would be the preferred location.
“Ultimately we could put a bench there and a floral display and people could take time to sit at it,” she said.
As CCTV is proposed for that location, the council was unsure whether this would mean the monument may have to be placed elsewhere.
A location outside the Bank of Ireland on Francis Street was then proposed as another possible site.
The council voted to erect the monument on Francis Street and agreed that the town engineer would decide between the two proposed locations on that street.