And It Roadstoned Me…

Sweet as…

t is, undoubtedly, a thing of beauty, and it’s sitting right at the bottom of the Sugar Loaf mountain.

Only, you know, you can’t actually see it. Not even on the billboard picture outside the heavily-locked and CCTV-laden entrance.

And that’s because some asswipe – or asswipes – have spray-painted all over that billboard, keen to cover over not only the above image but also the simple slogan, SAVE CALARY LAKE QUARRY.

Part of a campaign spearheaded by 75-year-old diving enthusiast Albert Kerr, the pugnacious pensioner believes the 12-acre clear-water quarry could be a major aquatic recreational facility, perfect for scuba diving, kayaking, abseiling and wind surfing. The multi-million-euro company who created the quarry, Roadstone, feel slightly differently. They reckon it would the 12-acre clear-water quarry would be perfect for construction waste.

To be precise, 3.2 million tonnes of construction waste, mixed in with unwanted soil and stone. An operation that, say Roadstone, will take 10-to-12 years of 12 heavy-goods vehicles trundling in and out of the site per hour every day. Bar Sundays and Bank Holidays.

It was shortly after GG spoke with Albert up at the Calary Quarry entrance on May 6th that the vandalism of the campaign sign occurred.

Which begs the question, who would do such a thing? Who would climb over a barbed wire fence, into a privately-owned field, and spray grey paint all over a billboard calling for this beautiful quarry to become a major tourist attraction?

It’s a real mind-twister, and no mistake. Are there packs of roaming vandals in the Kilmacanogue area who are particularly incensed by images of lakes? By capital letters? The colour blue?

I’m sure the local Gardaí are currently searching desperately for these billboard-hating thugs, and it’s something of a blessing that Roadstone have security cameras plastered all over this area. Perhaps they can help the law identify just who it was that committed this senseless act?

In the meantime, we swung up to Calary this afternoon to catch up with Albert, to see if he might have any ideas as to the identity of  these mindless, heartless, witless fucks might be…

You can watch our original May 6th interview with Albert here.