Monday, June 28, 2010

Galway grotto damaged

Gardaí have questioned a number of men in relation to thousands of euro worth of damage done to a County Galway grotto last weekend.

Nearly €3,000 worth of damage was done to a statue of Our Lady in the village of Caltra near Mountbellew in County Galway.

It is believed that Gardaí have arrested three men in relation to the incident with one of the three arrested claiming that he was leaning against the statue when it fell over causing the damage.

A smaller statue in the Grotto was also knocked over.

Gardaí have now forwarded a file on the incident to the director of Public Prosecutions.

The statue was first erected as a Muintir Na Tire project in the late 1950's in preparation for the Marian Year of Celebration in 1960.

Both the statue, and the grotto where it is situated, were later revamped as part of a local community employment scheme.

The incident comes just months after a nearby Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes located at a Grotto in Ballindine near Tuam was knocked from its plinth and broken.

SIC: CIN