Vandals cut down cross at summit of Carrantoohil
THE highest cross in Ireland has been cut down by vandals.
The 16-foot steel cross at the summit of Carrauntoohil in Co. Kerry was discovered lying on its side by a group of climbers from the Royal College of Surgeons yesterday morning.
VANDALS have cut down the 16foot tall cross at the summit of Ireland’s highest mountain, Carrauntoohil in Co. Kerry.
A group of 25 climbers from the Royal College of Surgeons came across the structure yesterday morning when they reached the summit with guide Piaras Kelly.
‘It was not the best of days for their first summit,’ said Mr Kelly who operates KerryClimbing.ie.
‘Instead of the usual picture of them sitting on the peak with the cross behind them, they got one of them sitting on the cross. So it was unique in that aspect I suppose.’
Mr Kelly, who lives at the base of the mountain, described the act as: ‘Pure vandalism whatever the reason, if it’s anti-Christian sentiment or someone who thought it scarred the natural look of the mountain.
‘It’s a real shame, it’s an iconic cross and an iconic peak. All the years I’ve been climbing it, I’ve been up on the summit over 2,000 times and it was always part of the mountain. It’s there since I was two and I always thought it’d be there long after my six-year- old daughter started climbing the mountain.’
Mr Kelly said: ‘I’d say it was a petrol-powered con saw, you wouldn’t get a generator up there. And if it was battery-powered, you’d need a lot of batteries. A con saw would go through it like butter.’
It would have taken the vandals around four hours to reach the 1,038 metre summit where the cross was erected in 1976. That event required the help of 100 people and was televised.
Kerry South Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin tweeted: ‘The felling of the cross on top of Carrauntoohil is shameful! V sad that anyone would think of doing such a thing!’
Kerry county councillor John Joe Culloty said the vandalism of the cross was part of a move towards ‘a Godless society’.
Liz Shanahan tweeted: ‘Sad to see the Cross on summit of Carrauntoohil cut down. Needless vandalism, regardless of religion.’