Mystery of the moved statue in Moynalty

Louise Walsh

A Meath family has been overwhelmed by the public response which led to the return of a missing statue of Our Lady from a roadside grotto.

The five-foot-high statue had been missing from a grotto at a crossroads near Moynalty for over a week.

The grotto had been built by the late faith healer Eileen Smith and her husband Ollie 25 years ago and is still used for regular public prayer meetings.

Daughters Rose Burns and Ann Byrne took to social media over the weekend to appeal for its return and received a huge response from strangers all over the country.

“We never post anything on social media but we felt we needed to send out an appeal because dad who is 82 was devastated that it went missing,” she said.

“We honestly never thought we would see it again. But the day after our appeal, it was left back on our lawn. It's five feet high and that heavy that took three men to put it back up in the grotto.

“There are other statues in the grotto but she was the only one taken.

“We received so many messages offering help and donations and even people offering to replace the statue with one of their own. Dad is just delighted it's back as it holds so many memories for him.

“Mam was a faith healer and there could be up to 50 people in the house praying at any one time when my siblings Ann, Bernie, Padraic, Ollie and I were growing up.

“Dad, mam and my uncle Paddy built the grotto at the crossroads near the house and held regular prayer meetings there so it really means a lot to him.”