A sculpture which has provoked objections from local people may be removed from the centre of Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, and relocated elsewhere.
Plans to remove the work may get the go-ahead in the new year following a decision by Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown councillors to set up a cathaoirleach's committee to discuss the acquisition of public art.
Top of the committee's list of priorities will be the relocation of Gateway, a work by Wexford artist and Aosdána member Michael Warren. He donated the sculpture as part of the artwork for the Pavilion Theatre development on Marine Road.
Situated close to the Victoria Fountain and Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Hall, the sculpture has been controversial since its installation at the Pavilion Plaza in 2003.
The cathaoirleach and former minister for education, Cllr Niamh Bhreathnach (Labour), who tabled the motion to establish the committee, said she could not believe councillors had no voice about the siting of public sculptures or artwork.
In a separate move, Cllr Eugene Regan (FG) tabled a motion at an earlier Dún Laoghaire Area Committee meeting to have the Gateway sculpture relocated. The committee voted unanimously in support of his motion.Cllr Regan said that the sculpture was intrusive in its present location and detracted from other structures in the area.
"Councillors who spoke on the motion did not call into question the artistic merit of the sculpture but rather the appropriateness of its location on the Pavilion Plaza," Cllr Regan said. "The difficulties which have arisen in relation to the location of the sculpture are due in large measure to the lack of meaningful consultation with the people of Dún Laoghaire, or indeed their public representatives, at the time of the original decision."
