Jack Doyle statue given go ahead amid allegations
A statue of Jack Doyle is to be built in Cobh as allegations of domestic abuse surround the late boxer, actor and tenor.
Councillors gave the go ahead for the statue to be built in John F Kennedy Park in the town at a meeting of Cork County Council and came after Green Party Cllr Alan O’Connor asked for a vote to be taken not to erect a statue of the man who died in 1978 and who was known as the 'Glorious Gael'.
The harbour town already has two plaques commemorating Jack Doyle.
The Cobh councillor described Jack Doyle as one of the town’s most famous sons but attached to him were “allegations of domestic violence.”
He said that Jack’s story was one of “highs and lows and none of us were prefect human beings.”
He continued: “I note that these allegations are denied by members of the Jack Doyle Statue Committee however the nature of the allegations of domestic violence along with the development of this selfie ready statue with boxer garb does not sit well with me.”
Independent Cllr Marcia D’Alton also said it would sit badly with her too especially in the guise of the proposed statue with his arms around a person. She queried why the council would choose to support the statue financially, given the allegations surrounding him.
Labour’s Cathal Rasmussen said that it’s a topic that’s been on the agenda for nearly two years and described it as a “difficult” one to discuss.
He said: “As a member of the municipal district committee, we discussed this long and hard. There was a certain amount of public opinion involved in this too and it is a hard decision to make based on the allegations. But at the end of the day this is a planning discussion and there were little objections made about it.”
He said it was the municipal district committee decision to support the erecting of the statue.
Cllr Gerard Murphy (Fine Gael) said he would be nervous of setting a precedence where Cork County Council would make a decision based solely on allegations.
Fine Gael Cobh councillor Anthony Barry said he found it hard to make a decision based on the fact they are allegations and it would be different if there had be a conviction.
Fianna Fáil’s Gearoid Murphy abstained from the vote and said: “In general, a lot of things happened before 1978 which were not proven but in a broader sense it is still clear that it most likely did happen.
The vote to reject the proposal to erect the statue in the harbour town failed by 10 to 18 with 16 absentions meaning that it can go ahead. After the vote was announced, Independent Cllr Mary Lenihan Foley shook her head and branded the decision as a "disgrace".