TWO cross-Border bridges blown up by the British army during the Troubles to prevent the IRA from crossing the Border from the Republic with bombs or to carry out attacks in the North were reopened yesterday after being rebuilt.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey officially opened both the Annaghroe and Knockaginny bridges which span the Blackwater River between Glaslough in Co Monaghan and Caledon village in Co Tyrone, which were closed in the 1950s and 1970s respectively.
The bridges were rebuilt by funding provided by the authorities on both sides of the Border and the re-opening was described by Mr Dempsey as an historic occasion, “re-establishing the physical and cultural links between the cross-Border communities of counties Monaghan and Tyrone”.