Debate contribution: Slieve Gullion Cairn

Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on 10 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Justin McNulty

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

10 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Slieve Gullion Cairn

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5437447

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank my constituency colleague for securing the debate. As someone who lives in and grew up on its foothills, I have a huge physical, emotional and spiritual attachment to Slieve Gullion and its prehistoric court cairn, which was constructed at its summit more than 5,000 years ago. I know that everyone from south Armagh feels the same way. We have a visceral connection to our mountain and to the cairn at its summit. It is part of who we are; it is part of our cultural identity; and it forms part of our very being. It was built before the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge and the Acropolis of Athens. It was built thousands of years before Machu Picchu. Situated nearly 2,000 ft above sea level, the South Cairn is the highest surviving passage grave in Ireland. When you get down on your hands and knees and crawl down the passageway into the chamber, you feel a real connection to our ancestors who built that monumental structure on top of our mythical mountain so many thousands of years ago. The fact that that passageway is aligned with the setting sun on the winter solstice makes it even more mind-boggling, special and unique. From my childhood, I remember RTÉ's Donncha Ó Dúlaing, God rest his soul, on his tour of Ireland, coming to the chamber with his high-tech microphone and recording device — a tape recorder — to record the myths and stories of local people. That was an amazing, mesmerising experience for me as a child. Our mountain is steeped in legend. One of the most famous legends is that of Fionn mac Cumhaill, the leader of the Fianna. It is told brilliantly by local historian Kevin Murphy, a former schoolteacher. He talks about the Cailleach Beara, who lived on top of the mountain and was the wicked witch. Fionn mac Cumhaill was chasing the wild stag in the Bog of Allen. The stag ran to the Cooley mountains. Fionn mac Cumhaill's dog Bran died, and Fionn mac Cumhaill then chased the white stag to the top of Slieve Gullion, where he came across a maiden who was crying at the lakeside. He said, "Why are you crying? What's the matter?". She told him that she had lost her ring in the lake. Fionn mac Cumhaill, heroic as he was, dived into its black waters and recovered the ring. When he crawled out of the lake on to its bank, he realised that he had been turned into an old, withered man, and he saw that the maiden was no longer a maiden but the Cailleach Beara: the wicked witch. She retreated to the passage grave. When the warriors of the Fianna arrived, they wondered where Fionn was, but one of his other dogs identified him by his smell, and the warriors realised what had happened. They dug a trench from the lake to the cairn, and they threatened the Cailleach Beara, saying that, if she did not undo the spell, they would flood all of Ireland. She thought, "Oh, God: we can't let that happen", and she reversed the spell. Fionn was returned to his youth, but his hair remained white. The other legendary story is that of Cú Chulainn. Setanta was a boy who wanted to join the Red Branch Knights at Emain Macha. His uncle brought him in, and he became a great hurler and a great warrior. His uncle went to a feast at the house of Culann, the metalsmith, on Slieve Gullion. Setanta arrived late because he had wanted to finish his game of hurling. When he arrived at the fort, Culann's hound had been let out. Setanta, with his sliotar and his hurl, killed the hound and became Cú Chulainn, the hound of Cullan. Those two wonderful Irish myths are directly linked to Slieve Gullion. I will use a word that the Member who secured the debate will identify with: rulya. It is rulya that the court cairn on top of Slieve Gullion has been closed. It is rulya that, as the Minister for Communities stated in response to my question for written answer, the South Cairn "remains closed for safety reasons". He stated:

"a project has been initiated to replace the 1960s roof covering. The project is assessing options for the repair or replacement of the roof covering predicated on my Department’s Conservation Principles and international best practice."

That is all very welcome.

I also asked the Minister for Communities:

"for his assessment of the benefits of restoring the corbeling on the roof of the prehistoric court cairn on the summit of Slieve Gullion, County Armagh",

to which he replied:

"The original stone corbeling over the main chamber collapsed in antiquity and is no longer extant."

How about we rebuild the corbelling in its original form so that, when people crawl into the chamber, it is in darkness? It is a mesmerising experience as it is, but that would create an even more mesmerising experience. Here is the rulya part. I wrote to the then Sinn Féin Minister for Communities in 2022 and asked her what she was going to do to restore the corbelling on top of the cairn on Slieve Gullion. She did not see fit to answer my question, so it is a bit rich for some Members to talk about other Ministers having responsibility. She did not even see fit to answer my question about the restoration of the wondrous court cairn on the top of Slieve Gullion. What a missed opportunity that was. What a mesmerising opportunity it now is for the Department for Communities and the Department for the Economy. I have written to both Ministers to ask what they will do to bring our court cairn back to life, which would allow locals to access it and for it to become a global tourism feature. It has the potential to be a mesmerising place of wonder.

990 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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