Athlone: Cooney calls for removal of H Block-messages exhibition

on 07/01/2013 19:13:07

Protesters are staging a demonstration outside this evening's meeting of Athlone Town Council, following the tabling of a motion to remove an art exhibition from the town.

Fine Gael Councillor Mark Cooney said the installation in Athlone's new Luan Gallery by artist Shane Cullen is offensive.

The exhibition, which is owned by the State and is called 'Fragments sur les Institutions Républicaines IV', is based on a collection of messages smuggled from the H Block prison by republican inmates in the 1980s.

Councillor Cooney has tabled a motion calling for the installation to be removed from the newly-opened Luan Gallery because it offends so many people.

But Sinn Féin's Paul Hogan has described the motion as "censorship".

"The reputation of the gallery and the artist has been damaged," he said, calling on the council to "stand up and portray a positive image for the entire midlands".