The Government has agreed to release a gun-runner from jail after serving a 22-year sentence. The yacht Asgard, formerly owned by Erskine Childers, is to be hoisted by crane over the wall of Kilmainham Gaol and transported to Ballsbridge, Dublin, in time for next week's Irish Boat Show.
The initiative is being undertaken by the Asgard Restoration Project, which aims to restore the fragile vessel and launch it again. Built as a wedding present for Erskine Childers, author of The Riddle of the Sands, and his partner, Molly, Asgard ran the gauntlet of the British navy when it transported guns from the Belgian coast to Howth, Co Dublin, in 1914. The arms were subsequently used in the 1916 Easter Rising.
The vessel was subsequently used for sail training, before its replacement by the purpose-built brigantine, Asgard II. It has been kept in deteriorating condition in Kilmainham Gaol since 1979, and the Asgard Restoration Project campaigned for a licence to work on it, which was granted in December 1999.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has agreed to give 50 per cent of the estimated £820,000 needed to restore the vessel. As part of a fundraising drive, spearheaded by the businessman, Mr Harry Crosbie, the restoration project has sought permission from the Minister, from the National Museum of Ireland and from Duchas, the Heritage Service, to borrow the vessel for the boat show.
The logistics of transport to the RDS have already been worked out, although bad weather delayed yesterday's plans to lift off the section of the roof over the vessel in Kilmainham. It will be hoisted over the jail wall by crane, and taken by lorry to Ballsbridge on Sunday. The crane driver was also involved in delivering the vessel to Kilmainham back in 1979.
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