I see Chris Andrews is seeking to preserve the Poolbeg towers, over in his own constituency of Dublin South East.

The towers have long served as sentinels to Dublin bay and have had a functional purpose as part of the ESB generation plant up till recently. Along with the old gas works at Ringsend, they comprise an important part of the built heritage of the area, both as landmarks and as harbingers to the rare oul times. Many of us will remember the Bank of Ireland ad, where the couple of would-be Brendan Behans (who was also a lighthouse painter), as GAA guerrillas, emerge under cover of darkness to daub the distinctive red ringlets with the royal blue of Dublin on the march!

Perversely the council have advised the towers are “not worth” preserving and should not be listed as such in the new development plan. I would be curious to know which department exactly issued that directive although there have been past skirmishes around the site.

I had occasion recently to meet the Heritage Officer for Kildare county council, and most knowledgeable, professional and passionate about her brief, I found her to be. Also, perhaps crucially in this age of mass development, she had a pragmatic approach succinctly summarised by her own statement that they (the heritage folk) were not “in the business of pickling buildings”. Rather it was realised the most sustainable form of preservation was ongoing use, and a commercial one especially so. She went on to walk me through the criteria for preservation and listing a building and so on, and it’s something to keep an eye on locally when the Sallins development plan comes up shortly. (Naas is slightly different in that the whole town is listed as a heritage area so individual sites need not be singled out for mention)

But in closing well done to Deputy Andrews and his quest, it takes centuries to establish tradition, moments to destroy it. Great to see a representative, and particularly a fellow Fianna Fáiler, taking up the case. Good luck to him.