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IMPRESSIVE MONUMENT UNVEILED AT CORNAGILTA A significant milestone in the affairs of the Margaret Skinnider Appreciation Society (MSAS) was celebrated on Sunday 6th December with the unveiling, by Ms Shirley Clerkin, Heritage Officer, Monaghan County Council, of a monument marking the contribution of the redoubtable Máiréad Ní Scineadóra to Irish life from 1914 until her death in October 1971. Erected on the lands of Patrick and Mary Rafferty in Cornagilta, equidistant to Tydavnet and Scotstown, this impressive nine-feet high monument may be accessed via the L1020 (Mullaghmore- Cornagilta) on the Scotstown-Tydavnet road or the R186 (Monaghan-Clogher road) at Killylough. A lasting tribute to Margaret Skinnider was first mooted at a public meeting convened by locals Pat McKenna and Patsy Brady (and chaired by Josephine O’Hagan) in the Sliabh Beagh Hotel, Knockatallon, all of six years ago. The unveiling of the monument was the culmination of that aspiration. The Skinnider Monument is nine feet high and eight feet wide. The inscription on the base acknowledges that the sandstone used was from the on-site ruins of the ancestral home and that the project was part-funded by Monaghan County Council. The die of the main structure incorporates two plaques giving a short résumé of her family background and Margaret Skinnider’s public life. The triangular pediment features a twelve-inch circular granite cameo of Margaret. The plaques and the cameo are from Treanor Stone-Tec, Clontibret, while the afore- mentioned Pat (Phat) McKenna executed all other aspects of the monument from conception to completion. Mr McKenna is a master craftsman at stonework: the monument on the site of the former workhouse in Belgian Square in Monaghan is a sample of his work. Read the full report HERE