Call to remove artwork is "narrow minded" says Sinn Féin councillor

Sinn Féin's representative on Athlone Town Council, Cllr Paul Hogan, has described the proposal to remove a controversial artwork from the town's Luan Gallery as "narrow minded". A meeting of the council this evening (Monday) is set to debate a motion from Fine Gael's Cllr Mark Cooney which calls for the removal of an exhibit based on messages smuggled out of jail on behalf of Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland during the 1981 hunger strike campaign. Cllr Cooney's father, the former Minister for Justice Paddy Cooney, has also voiced objections to the piece, which was completed by Longford native Shane Cullen. Sinn Fein's Cllr Paul Hogan said Cllr Cooney's motion was an attempt to censor history. "The motion by Cllr Cooney is an unprecedented attack on the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which has graciously lent this collection of work to the Luan Gallery in Athlone," said Cllr Hogan. "Shane Cullen is a highly respected artist who has exhibited internationally including representing Ireland at the Venice Biennale. This work has been exhibited in many places including London. His other best known work is a piece on the Good Friday Agreement. "Councillor Cooney is asking this council to censor a piece based on the tragic events in the prisons in the North in the 1980s, events that were milestones in Irish history. "The first person to raise this issue was none other than former Minister Paddy Cooney, a member of a government in the 1970s notorious for political censorship of the media," he continued. "Facing up to the legacy of our country's history is a responsibility we all share, no matter how uncomfortable some aspects may be for some people. Censoring history is never the way forward." Cllr Hogan added that an attempt to remove the artwork would cause irreparable damage to the Luan Gallery's reputation. "Other artists opposed to censorship in the arts will not want to exhibit here. Athlone Town Council cannot and must not stand over such a move," he said. The evening's meeting of the town council is due to get underway in the Civic Centre at 6pm.