Smith pledges `Asgard' funding

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has agreed to part-fund restoration of the State's first sail-training vessel, Asgard, which will enable it to take to sea again after languishing for many years in Kilmainham Gaol.

The ketch, which was built as a wedding present for Erskine Childers and used in the 1914 Howth gun-running delivery, will be returned to seagoing condition at an estimated cost of just over £500,000.

Mr Smith is expected to confirm this week he will pay half the cost, with the other half being raised by the Asgard Restoration Project.

The decision means the vessel will not now be conserved for display in the new National Museum premises in Collins Barracks, which had been the intention of the previous government.

Three years ago the Asgard Restoration Project was formed to raise awareness about the craft and have it returned to the water.

The project is chaired by Mr Arthur Hughes, and includes former Asgard and Asgard II skipper, Capt Eric Healy, among its members, most of whom have an active involvement in traditional boats.

The ketch was ordered from the builder in Larvik, Norway, by the parents of Molly Osgood, of Boston, who married Erskine Childers and made many voyages with him.

Following Childers's death in 1922, it fell into other hands and was purchased by the State in 1961. It cruised extensively with trainees from 1968 to 1974, and was put on display in Kilmainham in 1979, when it was replaced by the Asgard II.

Mr Tim Magennis, spokesman for the Asgard Restoration Project, declined to comment on the Minister's decision before the official announcement, but said he would be "delighted" if the Minister had indeed indicated his support.

The vessel is expected to be launched in two to three years' time, and may make a transatlantic voyage as one of its first trips. However, before that it will sail to Glandore, Co Cork, home of the biennial classic boats regatta, and other Irish ports.