THE Rubberbandits share their unique insight and ideas for the proposed renaming of the Shannon Bridge as the ‘John Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge’ and the area at Merchant’s Quay in the vicinity of Limerick City Hall and St Mary’s Cathedral, as ‘Brian Ború Square’.
Blindboy Boatclub (Rubberbandits)
1. Do you think the names of these two city landmarks should be changed and why?
I liked it when the Shannon Bridge was called the ‘Whistling Bridge’ and it actually used to whistle.
2. What do you think of the proposal to name them after JFK and Brian Ború?
Not JFK anyway, that’s just yanky arse-licking. Brian Ború was a Clare man technically but certainly a legend worthy of serious recognition.
3. Anyone you might like to see The Shannon Bridge and Merchant’s Quay renamed after?
Yes, Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy. He was a Limerick doctor who introduced Western medicine to the therapeutic use of cannabis. He also invented electrolyte salts, which is a fluid replacement drug that has saved more lives than any other in Africa. For some mad reason he’s been forgotten by Limerick. Given that the world’s attitudes towards cannabis, in particular it’s medicinal use is changing. We need to embrace the legacy of O’Shaughnessy and get Limerick the recognition it deserves for producing medicinal hash.
4. What about our own Limerick heroes, shouldn’t we consider naming The Shannon Bridge and Merchant’s Quay after one of our own instead?
Here’s my proposal. On the Shannon Bridge there should be a plaque reading ‘Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy Bridge’ with a picture of a hash leaf on the plaque. Also, through clever acoustic engineering of the bridges railings we could get it to whistle out the opening melody of ‘Kingston Town‘ by UB40 whenever there’s a strong breeze. This would also pay homage to the bridge’s former folk name of “the singing bridge”.
I challenge anyone to tell me why that’s a bad idea. “There’s a bridge in Limerick named after the man who invented hash and it whistles UB40 tunes during strong gales”. Imagine if that was a real sentence in the English language? We’d be inundated with tourists.
