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The minister for defence, Bobby Molloy, recommended that the Asgard should be buried at sea because of the expense involved in restoring it, according to documents released to the National Archives. Erskine Childers's yacht, which brought guns and ammunition used in the 1916 Rising into Ireland, was no longer seaworthy in 1976 and was in a shipyard in Malahide, pending a decision on its future.
A civil servant wrote that Mr Molloy felt that, if the yacht was to be preserved, it should be located in Howth because of the historical associations. However, the minister felt it would be "inexpedient at this time" to take on this project. "It would also be extremely expensive. He accordingly recommends for the approval of the Government that Asgard should be buried at sea with appropriate ceremony."
The Department of the Taoiseach rejected this option, writing that burial at sea "would be widely regarded as an act of destruction".
The Asgard I spent many years inside Kilmainham Gaol but is now being restored at Collins Barracks. It will be put on display with masts and rigging in place when the restoration project is finished.
The Asgard II training vessel sank in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France in September of
this year.
Legion criticised over strategy
An Irish ambassador in Moscow criticised the methods used by the Legion of Mary to establish links with the Russian Orthodox Church.
In a 1978 letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs, ambassador Edward Brennan wrote about a meeting with some Legion of Mary officers who wanted to have a presence in Russia.
"Their main selling point, which to me smacks very much of a narrow-minded intolerance calculated to appeal to the traditional xenophobia of the Orthodox Church here, is that adoption of Legion system would help the Orthodox Church to fend off what they uncharitably describe as 'the freak religions' which have arisen in the West and the danger when 'there is growing openness to Western ideas' which could lead to the importation of 'pornography, crime, immorality and drugs'," Dr Brennan wrote.
The officers sought advice from the ambassador on how to carry out their work there but Dr Brennan told them "they would have to handle it as they saw best".
Reports by Alison Healy