and broken up and the side altars to Saints Brigid and St Joseph were removed and relocated in other churches. Only McCarthy's Caen Stone reredos survived removal, though its lower portions, enriched in 1904 with Carrara marble, were dismantled and floral tapestries attached to the lower portion of the reredos in their stead. New fittings carved from roughly hewn Wicklow Granite were fitted at the crossing and the sanctuary area was extended beyond the line of the former rood screen and raised by several feet and clad in polished Wicklow granite. Criticism had been made of the 1904 scheme's foreign design and materials as a result of which the reorganisation stressed its native roots. The new altar, ambo and tabernacle were carved by a Dundalk sculptor, Peter McTigue and the tabernacle door was manufactured in Kilkenny. Carpets replacing the former marble floor were woven in Killybegs. To replace the rood cross, a huge sculpture entitled "The Tree of Life" was commissioned from Imogen Stuart, the German-born Irish sculptor. The cathedral was again rededicated on 13 June 1982 when relics of St. Malachy were placed in the new altar. The works were met with almost unopposed shock and outcry. "Neither the quality of the replacements nor the skill of the craftsmanship can disguise the total alienation of the new work from the spirit and meaning that was McCarthy's ecclesiological and architectural inspiration. In this setting, these modern intrusions appear dispassionate and irrelevant" lamented the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society (UAHS, 1992). Architectural historian Jeanne Sheehy wrote of the re-ordering as "the replacement ... of a fine late Gothic revival chancel with chunks of granite and a tabernacle that looks like a microwave". Restoration and renewal: The cathedral of Cardinal Brady Although the decorative style of the cathedral was thus significantly changed in 1982, the building itself had not undergone any major structural works since the replacement of the aisle roofs in 1904. By 2002, the necessity for major structural repairs to the building had become obvious. As a result of the construction methods of the walls and wear to the roof, damp had damaged much of the mosaic and the painted decorations had been dulled with smoke and dust. A great deal of the external stonework had perished and the twin spired towers had become unstable. A Diocesan committee charged with overseeing these major structural works to secure the building decided that