Councillor calls for removal of 'offensive' art installation
A Fine Gael councillor will call for the removal of a contemporary art installation from the new Luan Gallery in Athlone, Co Westmeath, today.
Cllr Mark Cooney, whose father Paddy Cooney was minister for justice during some of the darkest days of the Troubles in the 1970s, claims the installation is “offensive” and should be removed – a view shared by his father. Created by Longford-born artist Shane Cullen and titled Fragments sur les Institutions Républicaines IV, the artwork is based on a collection of Republican prisoners’ messages smuggled out of the H-Block prison in 1981.