No statue of limitations!

Could Cork city be in line for more artwork and statues?

There was a rare moment of unity in City Hall last week, as everyone agreed that the city centre could do with a few more heroes in bronze. Even political opponents spoke in one voice, celebrating the city’s heritage with pride and enthusiasm.

The motion, put forward by Labour Party Cllr John Maher, calls for new public art and monuments to be installed across the city, starting with Patrick St and its historic link to the River Lee.

“As a local authority, we should be telling the story of Cork,” said Cllr Maher. “The idea of the River Lee flowing through Patrick St — if you just came to Cork, you wouldn’t know that unless someone told you. That story is there to be told. And yes, we need to expand into the suburbs too.”

To make it happen, councillors agreed to set up a subcommittee and allocate funding for future projects.

“I was in Edinburgh recently. It’s not much bigger than Cork. They have statues of patriots everywhere. It really improves the public realm. It makes the city look great,” highlighted Fine Gael Cllr Shane O'Callaghan. “I think we should seriously look at having more statues in Cork, to complement the very successful statue of Michael Collins on the Grand Parade.

“Why not have statues of people like Terence MacSwiney, Tom Barry, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, John and Henry Sheares, or the Wallace sisters? We have plenty of great figures going back to 1798.

“I’d also like to see a monument to Cumann na mBan. There’s been talk about renaming Bishop Lucey Park after Cumann na mBan, but I think a monument would be much more fitting,” concluded Cllr O'Callaghan.

“Now with the MacCurtain Street Bridge area completed, I think something to honour MacCurtain should definitely be done,” said Sinn Féin Cllr Kenneth Collins.

Green Party Cllr Oliver Moran directed a question to Chief Executive Valerie O’Sullivan about the 1% for Art scheme, a Government initiative that allocates one per cent of the budget for publicly funded capital projects to commission new works of public art.

“We’ve really let some opportunities slip through our hands. MacCurtain Street is a great example.

“If we had applied the 1% for Art scheme there, we could have had a monument to Tomás MacCurtain or something else meaningful,” highlighted Cllr Moran.

“As I understand it, it’s not a huge burden when it comes to public infrastructure projects to include the percentage for art.”

Cork City Council Chief Executive Valerie O’Sullivan replied that “telling the story of Cork through art across our city streets and public spaces is very important” and they’ve even appointed a dedicated person to lead the work.

“We are determined to maximise that going forward. We want to enhance our streets and public spaces with as much art and sculpture as possible, perhaps the city centre would be a good place to start,” concluded the Chief Executive.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.