Hogan says fellow councillors were "spineless" in art row

Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Hogan has accused town councillors who voted to refer the controversial call to remove artwork from the Luan Gallery to the board of the facility as "spineless". In a scathing attack on his fellow town councillors, Hogan said: "The other six councillors may have thought that they pulled off a major stroke by not voting against Cllr Cooney's censorship motion. A number of those didn't even speak on the motion as they had committed to both sides of the argument and opted to sit on the fence instead. I believe those councillors who supported the amendment acted in a spineless manner." He claimed that their failure to reject outright Cllr Cooney's motion seeking the removal of Shane Cullen's installation had "led to a number of artists stating that they would be hesitant to exhibit their work in the Luan Gallery, if the powers of the manager was curtailed in any way". Cllr Mark Cooney's motion called for artist Shane Cullen's exhibit 'Fragmens sur le Institutions Republicaines IV' be removed from the Luan Gallery. A counter-motion proposing that Cllr Cooney's motion be simply referred to the board of the gallery was passed instead, on a vote of 6-3. Ahead of the meeting of the board of Athlone Art and Heritage Ltd on Tuesday, Cllr Hogan said: "I am hopeful that the board of directors will portray a very strong message to the Town Council members." And he called on all local, national and international artists not to boycott the Luan Gallery. "I would appeal to those artists to help the Luan Gallery be the shining light in artistic endeavour in the country".