First chance to see pier’s historic gun battery

A battery at Dun Laoghaire’s East Pier is open to the public for the first time. The East Pier Battery is one of only two gun saluting stations in the country, the other being in Spike Island in Cobh, Co Cork. Army gunners use it to fire salutes for visiting naval ships, and the battery was “in action” during the visit of the USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier in 1996. Apart from one week in 1991, this is the first time the battery has been available to the public since it opened in 1859. It will be open from Thursday to Sundays, 10.30am to 5pm from this week until Sunday, October 18.

Evening Herald