{"id":487996,"date":"2026-06-07T20:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/487996\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T20:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:13:09","slug":"a-victim-of-its-own-popularity-dalkeys-second-world-war-eire-sign-gets-a-facelift-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/487996\/","title":{"rendered":"A victim of its own popularity \u2013 Dalkey\u2019s second World War \u00c9ire sign gets a facelift \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeology is full of stories of ancient civilisations being rediscovered having been buried under centuries of vegetation. <\/p>\n

In Ireland\u2019s case a significant piece of history disappeared \u2013 not from some remote location, but arguably the most salubrious address in the country. <\/p>\n

Vico Road and its environs in Dalkey<\/a>, south Dublin, is home to Bono and The Edge from U2, Enya and the film director Neil Jordan, among other prominent people. During Covid, actor Matt Damon spent some time in the area, which is known as Bel \u00c9ire for its celebrity count and expensive seafront housing. <\/p>\n

The second World War \u00c9ire sign in Dalkey<\/a> disappeared from public memory at the end of the conflict and nature did the rest, covering it in metres of seagrass and other vegetation. <\/p>\n

The discovery of the remains of a red-brick lookout in the area in 2019 suggested the presence of some second World War era history. A search also uncovered the foundations of a hut, which turned out to be lookout post number seven. <\/p>\n

Therefore, it was established, it had to be close to one of 83 such \u00c9ire signs dotted around the Irish coast, signalling to Allied and Nazi aircraft that they were passing over neutral Ireland. But where was it? <\/p>\n

Fortunately, local resident Orla de Cogan found a 1950 Air Corps reconnaissance photograph which showed the chalky remains of the sign. Dalkey was the seventh location of the 83 around the coast, denoted by the number 7. <\/p>\n

\"DalkeyDalkey TidyTowns members at the WWII “\u00c9ire 7” sign at Hawk Cliff. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

It was finally restored in 2019, but given its location, the salty sea air has eroded the paintwork, and it also became a victim of its own popularity. It is right beside the long steps down to Dalkey beach and swimmers frequently walk across the sign passing by. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Work to restore WWII Eire sign on Howth Head Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Dalkey TidyTowns committee member Des Burke-Kennedy said the sign had become \u201cscuffed\u201d with people walking over the lettering. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe could put a fence around it, but we are appealing to people\u2019s better nature not to walk across it. It is now a second World War memorial,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Over the weekend, dozens of volunteers from Dalkey TidyTowns have been out with their paint brushes in fair weather and foul repainting the stonework. <\/p>\n

Twenty-four volunteers turned up on Friday to begin the process. Specialist paint called Sika, also used on lighthouses and other locations subject to salty air, was applied. <\/p>\n

A few days ago the sign appeared in The New York Times in an article about Ireland\u2019s neutrality. Burke-Kennedy said D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had agreed to cut the grass around the memorial, but the rest is up to locals. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0WWII Eire sign discovered on Bray Head after 70 years Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The sign will need repainting every two years or else all the work done to restore it will have been in vain. \u201cWe hope others will take up this task in the future,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeology is full of stories of ancient civilisations being rediscovered having been buried under centuries of vegetation. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26016,72,37468,16146,61,60,98032,42229,37866,63001],"class_list":["post-487996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bono","tag-business","tag-dalkey","tag-enya","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-matt-damon","tag-neil-jordan","tag-the-edge","tag-tidy-towns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}