‘Bring Tara Brooch home to Bettystown’

COUNCILLOR WOULD LOVE TO SEE PRIZED OBJECT BACK TO WHERE IT WAS FOUND

LOCAL councillor Tom Kelly says he’d love to see the Tara Brooch (pictured) going on display at a new centre to be built as part of the redevelopment of the beach entrance in the centre of Bettystown.

But Head of Finance Fiona Lawless says that it won’t happen. ‘ There’s no way on earth we’ll get it,’ she stated at the Laytown/ Bettystown area council meeting.

She said the Tara Brooch can be incorporated into the new building but ‘if we can’t get the Book of Kells to Kells, we won’t get the Tara Brooch!’

The matter was raised during a discussion on the Draft Beach Management Plan for the area, aimed at improving facilities for locals and visitors.

The brooch was found in August 1850 on the beach at Bettystown by a peasant woman. She sold it to a dealer in Drogheda who then passed it on to Dublin jeweler George Waterhouse.

He made the 7th Century made object world famous. It was renamed ‘ Tara’ to increase its appeal.

It was put on display at The Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and even went to Windsor Castle to allow the Queen see it.

By the mid 1870s, it was part of the Museum of Ireland collection.

While the chances of brooch coming to Bettystown are now slim, the plan to transform the beach area continues, although consultants must now carry out a Natura Impact Assessment of the area in case of issues with birds nesting, etc.

It is expected that the plan will be put out on public display in April.

They are working on securing a tender for a focal point building at the beach entrance, either to incorporate the present buildings - recently purchased by the council - or a totally new look.

Councillor Sharon Tolan made a call for something to be done with the beach entrance at present due to the numbers using it. She said it was blocked by cars recently and vehicles couldn’t get down or up.

Eimear Ferguson and Sharon Keogan both asked for the period of the beach warden to be extended until the end of September