To commemorate the achievement of Richard Crosbie, Ireland’s first aviator, a sculpture by Dubliner Rory Breslin was unveiled on Sunday, 28 September 2008 in Ranelagh Gardens by councillor Mary Freehill along with Irish Times columnist Frank McNally and Rose Doherty, a local resident and mother of former world snooker champion Ken Doherty.

It was on January 19th 1785 that Richard Crosbie launched his hydrogen balloon from Ranelagh Gardens in front of a huge crowd of spectators and made a short flight across Dublin to land near Clontarf.

This was a remarkable achievement, occurring just 14 months after the first-ever manned balloon flight of the Montgolfier Brothers hot air balloon in France.