Contract for Athlone sculpture was signed after protests were underway

The contract for sculptor Rory Breslin's contentious 'Mask of the Shannon' public artwork in Athlone was signed several weeks after a protest campaign in opposition to the artwork had gotten underway.

Westmeath County Council commissioned the 11-foot art piece by the Mayo-based sculptor, which is due to be erected in the Custume Place area of the town at some stage in the coming months.

Objectors have argued that the proposed sculpture is based on inappropriate British symbolism and should be scrapped in favour of a piece focusing on the Irish mythological figure of Síonnan.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, which were seen by the Westmeath Independent, showed that the contract for the art piece was signed on August 19 last year.

This was almost three months after objections to the "colonial" symbolism of the piece were first aired in a letter to the Westmeath Independent by Athlone native and Coventry University Professor Ralph Kenna.

A subsequent campaign of opposition to the piece resulted in local and national media coverage in July and August, 2019.

It was announced in April 2019 that Mr Breslin's idea for the sculpture had been chosen from three public art proposals that went on display in the Civic Centre that January.

The following month, Professor Kenna had a letter published in this newspaper ('Call for a rethink on Church Street sculpture') in which he argued that the piece was based on the symbolism of a male 'river god' of the Shannon which was "entirely concocted" in the 18th century for display at the Custume House in Dublin.

Subsequently, in July, an online petition opposing the sculpture was started by former Social Democrats local election candidate Fiona Lynam. The petition has since attracted over 600 signatures.

During the August bank holiday weekend last year, a gathering also took place on the town bridge in which people linked hands and called for the proposed sculpture to be replaced with a piece on the theme of Síonnan.

The objections to the sculpture were covered in several media outlets including Midlands 103, thejournal.ie, and TG4.

In July 2019, a Westmeath County Council spokesperson told the Westmeath Independent that, as far as the local authority was concerned, the process of commissioning the artwork had "concluded" and the council didn't see how it could be revisited.

The Freedom of Information documents show that the signing of the contract for the piece took place several weeks later, in Athlone Civic Centre, on August 19.

It's also shown in the documents that the €60,000 in funding for the sculpture is coming from Westmeath County Council's own budget.

The project is not part of the 'per cent for art' scheme, which sees a proportion of funds from a major public infrastructure development (in this case the Church Street revamp) set aside for public art.

The FOI documentation on the project was issued to Coosan resident Orla Donnelly, who is one of the opponents of the new sculpture.

She argued that the timing of the contract signing showed the commissioning of the piece could have been stopped if there had been a will in the council to do so.

"It's embarrassing that as others around the world are tearing down symbols of oppression, Westmeath County Council are putting up a monument to our oppressors," said Orla.

The Arts office of Westmeath County Council was contacted for comment but no response has been received to date.