Garden sculpture is vandalised

VANDALS have damaged the hands of a sculpture in the Remembrance Garden in Cloughleigh.
Last Thursday, Anne McCullagh, who was one of the parents instrumental in establishing the garden 10 years ago, discovered the damage to the statue on a visit to the garden.
The hands of the statue, which are joined in a prayer-like pose, were broken apart and knocked off. “This is so upsetting. Why would anyone do this? It’s not the first time vandals have damaged the statue, or got at other parts of the garden, including the plants. I’m sick to the teeth of this now. People have no respect,” she said.
She said that people who work in stone-masonry have told her that it would have taken anybody a long time to cause this kind of damage to the statue. “Part of the hands have literally been hacked off. Surely somebody must have seen someone or a group up to no good in the garden,” she added.
This is not the first time the hands have been broken from the statue. “Previously, they were broken off and a metal bar was put in to replace them securely, so it was not an easy job to break them off,” she commented.
The Remembrance Garden is for parents or families who have lost a child of any age.
She has been appealing to Ennis Town Council for some time to install CCTV cameras. “Railings or a wall are also badly needed there to deter vandalism,” she said.
The Council has confirmed that a new community-based CCTV system will be put in place in Cloughleigh and it will have coverage of the Remembrance Garden.
Mrs McCullagh is also calling on people to stop children and teenagers playing ball games in the Remembrance Garden. “It is not a suitable place for ball games. It is not a playground or a pitch. It is a place of serenity and quiet for people who are bereaved. I would also encourage anyone who notices ball games going on to call me or the guards,” she said.