Twinning plaque stolen from street in Cork
It follows confirmation by officials that the city council was not involved in the removal of the large limestone plaque from a city suburb.
“It would appear that a third party may have been involved,” they said.
It is the second time this year that City Hall has admitted the “loss” of an item of public furniture.
Last May, on foot of queries from Fianna Fáil councillor Ken O’Flynn, officials admitted they have no idea of the whereabouts of the historic 19th-century Dunscombe Foundation.
Gifted to the city in the late 1800s by friends of the late Reverend Nicholas C Dunscombe — a leading Protestant clergyman and a founder member, along with the Apostle of Temperance, Fr Mathew, of the temperance movement in Cork — it was installed at the bottom of Shandon St in the late 1870s.
However, it was removed from the street sometime before the 1980s. Its whereabouts are unknown.
Mr O’Flynn, who offered a reward at the time for information which may lead to its recovery, questioned officials last week about the whereabouts of a large limestone plaque which was presented to the people of Cork by the French city of Rennes in the 1980s as a symbol of friendship.
It was unveiled in 1981 to mark the formal naming of Avenue de Rennes in Mahon a year before Cork and Rennes announced a formal twinning arrangement.
Mr O’Flynn said it simply vanished about four years ago. And he said it is clear from a written reply to his questions that a third party was involved.
When pressed on the issue, officials said they would report the matter to gardaí.
“This was a large heavy limestone plaque,” he said. “It wasn’t something you could just put under your jacket and walk away with and yet nobody seems to know where it is.
“We now have missing fountains, missing plaques. It is vitally important that we care for these items — things we grew up with, things for which we have sincere affection.
“We need to look at our archives, we need to work with the city’s heritage officer and the curator of the public museum, to prepare an inventory of all such items of historical importance.”
He appealed to anyone with information on the plaque’s whereabouts to contact him.
Cork’s twinning link with Rennes is one of the city’s more active twinning relationships. A Cork delegation regularly takes part in the Rennes International Fair and more recently, in the Salon Internationale du Tourisme de Rennes.
Several runners from Rennes have taken part in the Cork City Marathon, over the years, with two athletes competing in this year’s half-marathon, and one competing in the full marathon last year. Fifteen students from Lycee de la Salle in Rennes visited Cork in June 2016 to undertake internships in various businesses and organisations here.
