Ireland

Memorial statue of Terry Wogan ‘defaced’ in Limerick

‘Terry was a big strong rugby man not like this little chap,’ message read

The bronze sculpture in Limerick of Freeman of the city, the late Terry Wogan.

David Raleigh
Fri Jul 20 2018 - 14:58

Gardaí have been asked to investigate after a €60,000 memorial sculpture of Terry Wogan was discovered "defaced" in Limerick.

The bronze statue, which was commissioned by Limerick City and County Council, and unveiled on Harvey's Quay in July last year, is the creation of award-winning sculptor Rory Breslin.

The sculpture of Wogan, seated on a chair with microphone in one hand and interview notes in the other, has previously attracted controversy with some complaining it bears little or no resemblance to the late legendary BBC broadcaster, who was born in Limerick.

One person previously commented that the statue bore more of a resemblance to Portuguese soccer star Ronaldo. Others have expressed their satisfaction with the piece while more have called for it to be redone.

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The council said it spent €58,500 on the public artwork.

Two messages which appeared on part of the statue have been removed by the local authority workers.

One message, which was written in white, had read: “Terry was a big strong rugby man not like this little chap.”

The message concluded: “COUNCIL COCK UP”.

Gardaí said they had not yet received a complaint about the matter.

However, Indepenent Limerick councillor Frankie Daly, has called on gardaí to investigate the "deplorable act", which has described as "an act of cowardice".

Wogan was awarded the Freedom of Limerick in 2007. The veteran broadcaster died aged 77 in 2016 after he was diagnosed with cancer.

“Terry is an icon of Limerick and an attack on his statue is an attack on the people of Limerick,” said Cllr Daly. “There are other ways to debate an issue without defacing it.”

A spokesperson for Limerick City and a County Council said: “Unfortunately vandalism happens from time to time on various statues/monuments in Limerick and this graffiti will be removed by our cleansing team.”

“As an aside, we’ve had more compliments than complaints about the Terry Wogan piece,” they added.

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