This weeks Wicklow People report on Wicklow Town Council meeting had a piece about a proposal to rename the Stone Bridge in Wicklow Town. The proposal was put forward by Sinn Fein councillor Eamonn Long. The bridge has been known as the Stone Bridge for as long as anyone can remember and Long’s idea was that the bridge could be renamed as the Michael Dwyer Bridge.

The proposal was “shot down”, according to the newspaper, as there didn’t appear to be any consensus of opinion that a name change was justified. According to Cllr. Pat Byrne, it’s been called the Stone Bridge since it was built and “some people in town wouldn’t have any wishes to change it”. Cllr Irene Winters said that “It would have to be named by the people of the town and not the councillors sitting here. Anyway, it’s been called the Stone Bridge for 320 years”.

And rounding off the report was the jolly quip by Cllr. Ollie Lalor which prompted me to post this entry. Cllr. Lalor said, in reference to Eamonn Long, “He will want to call it the Falls Road Bridge next!”

This comment is yet another example of, what I believe, is an undercurrent of resentment among certain town councillors against the Sinn Fein representation. Just to be sure I wasn’t imagining it, I searched back through the Wicklow People archives for all references mentioning Eamonn Long and the various reports make for interesting reading. Just to take one example…

A memorial was erected at Weston Close last year to commemorate the site of a massacre which took place in the town in 1641. Long arranged funding for the memorial and it was duly erected.

Rather than applaud the addition of a new monunment in the town, a number of councillors waged a petty campaign to have it removed because they believed it was not the location where the massacre took place. I remember reading the report at the time and getting a bit annoyed about it, as the very same councillors never bothered in their entire time on the council to have something like this erected.

Here is the report from the Wicklow People about it.

There have been other cases as well and it just bothers me that someone trying to do some good in the town gets rubbished just because of his political affiliation. This shouldn’t be an issue in local affairs anyway. Ollie Lalor and others should put their prejudices aside and get on with DOING instead of CRITICISING.

And especially for Cllr Lalor I have come up with some alternative names for the bridge especially for other political parties.

Fianna Fail – The CIF Bridge (CIF – Construction Industry Federation)

Fine Gael – The Barry McGuigan Bridge (because they need someone with a decent punch to land one on the current administration)

Labour – The Spike Milligan Bridge (could do with a sense of humour)

Green Party – The Pinocchio Bridge (puppets, string… get it)