Tipperary community upset over exclusion of monument from national funding package

The General Liam Lynch monument in the Knockmealdowns has been excluded from a €5m national monuments funding package.
Cllr Máirín McGrath has expressed disappointment that the monument has been overlooked for Government funding.
The Community Monuments Fund is a national grant scheme rolled out by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to fund the conservation, maintenance, protection and presentation of archaeological monuments.
The scheme is open to structures included on either the National Sites & Monuments Record or Record of Monuments and Places.
However Cllr Máirín McGrath has expressed disappointment that the memorial to General Liam Lynch is not included on either of the national databases.
“As we prepare to commemorate the centenary of the death of General Liam Lynch in April 2023, I queried the eligibility criteria for the scheme in the hope of availing of funding. I’m shocked and disappointed that our most significant, historic, free standing local monument, namely the Liam Lynch Monument, is not eligible to apply for a single euro out of the €5 million allocation.”
The memorial to General Liam Lynch, located in the middle of the Knockmealdown Mountains, is the definition of a community monument according to the Newcastle-based councillor.
It was designed by Clonmel man Denis Doyle and the 50 foot structure was erected in 1935 by locals commemorating the Republican leader who was fatally injured at the spot 12 years previous during the Civil War while local groups continue to remember the IRA Chief of Staff annually both in Newcastle and at the monument.
“There is no reason why the magnificent 50 metre high monument should be excluded from the Record of Monuments & Places which was compiled in the late 1990s. While the Sites and Monuments record is largely made up of pre-1700 archaeology, and there are several archaeological monuments that are eligible for the grant, I believe the Community Monuments Fund should be extended to include a third database, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, where the monument is recognised or that the Liam Lynch Monument should rightly be included on the Record of Monuments & Places and therefore be eligible for the scheme,” she said.
Cllr McGrath said the 87-year-old monument signifies a major part of local history. “Its exclusion from a national database makes me question what other significant historical structures, especially those that commemorate this era in Irish history might be missing from the national database, which doesn’t appear to have been updated in over 20 years,” said Cllr McGrath. “I have highlighted this issue with Minister Darragh O’Brien’s department before Christmas, however, I am yet to receive an explanation. Both myself and Deputy Mattie McGrath will work to ensure that the popular local monument would be recognised in national databases and eligible for funding,” she added.

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