A new bridge named after Austin Clark crossing the River Dodder at Templeogue Dublin opens.
Labour Party councillor and Chairman of Dublin County Council Bernie Malone officially opened the bridge named in memory of poet and playwright Austin Clarke who once lived at the site.
Bernie Malone drove a TMC Costin designed and made in Wexford across the Austin Clarke bridge.
A new bridge was urgently needed by residents and other road users plagued for years by the narrowness of the old bridge which dated back to 1798.
Despite the fact that the bridge has been named after Austin Clarke, the poet had mixed feelings about development as expressed in his poem 'The Last Ditch'.
Was it an engineer
Busy over a plan
To bring the city nearer,
Who tore up aquatic plants
With fountain pen.
The bridge will eventually be linked by a dual carriageway with the Tallaght by-pass.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 12 December 1984. The reporter is Don Cockburn.
