Kildonan Park: Finglas locals campaign for Kevin Barry statue

A residents group which is campaigning to erect a monument of Irish republican Kevin Barry in Kildonan Park, Finglas says it is being “ignored” by Dublin City Council and Sculpture Dublin after a petition amassed nearly 1,000 signatures supporting the proposal.

The petition, which was organised by the Kevin Barry Memorial Group, was submitted to Sculpture Dublin, as part of their project to install a commissioned sculpture in the park.

The scheme is set to commission six new sculptures for various sites around the county, which include Kildonan Park, Smithfield, St Anne’s Park and Bushy Park in Terenure.

In documents circulated by the group, it says that 1,134 residential homes in the north west of Finglas were petitioned.

Out of the 1,134 homes, 984 supported the proposal while 184 households were not home at the time.

Two households did not support the proposal.

In its submission, the group says that the committee was “established by local residents of Finglas north west 2020 to consider and explore ways to commemorate the centenary of Kevin Barry and remember the young 18-year-old lad who gave his life in an attempt to free his country from British subjugation.”

The proposed sculpture would be a bronze statue of Kevin Barry holding a hurl on his right shoulder accompanied by his dog, Cú.

The statue would be placed on a two-metre-high granite plinth while there would be an overall height of four metres which would “allow the artwork be viewed from any location in the park with a clear line of sight.”

The proposal did not include a likeness of Barry and said that “is the responsibility of the artists submitting for the commission.”

However, the proposal is not being considered by Sculpture Dublin and has shortlisted three artists to present their vision for what the sculpture should be.

In a statement, Sculpture Dublin said the commissioning procedure for the piece at Kildonan Park is a “two-stage process” and announced the shortlisted artists late last year.

“While the criteria set out includes a requirement that the new sculpture should be designed to reflect present day Finglas, Sculpture Dublin has not set out a prescriptive technical brief for the sculpture.

“This is an opportunity for artists to develop a concept, informed by both the site in which the sculpture will be located and engagement with the local community.”

This stage of the process involves “public engagement in the form of a creative exploration and consultation process facilitated by Dublin City Council Culture Company.”

The Kevin Barry Memorial Group says that the bodies involved in the initiative “have refused to accept the democratic mandate by the residents of Finglas north west.”

“At the Launch of Sculpture Dublin earlier in July of 2020 the current Lord Mayor Hazel Chu was quite emphatic that public art required the consent of the community wherein the art would reside,” the group said.

“The City Arts Manager Ray Yeates stated that public art required the consent of the local community and stated that public art should not be parachuted in.”

The statement says that Sculpture Dublin have “ignored the local community group and the consent of the local community.”

Sculpture Dublin said it “cannot comment on individual submissions” but said “the artists have committed to (virtually) meet with the Kevin Barry Memorial Group, along with other local organisations.”

Some of the criteria outlined by Sculpture Dublin included that the new sculpture should be designed to reflect present-day Finglas, and that artists only with “experience of creating original, high quality artwork” would be considered.