This article is from page 14 of the 2011-07-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
ICARUS will not be swooping down to settle in Clarecastle despite a late bid to have the well known piece of sculpture moved to a new home.
In a motion submitted to yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) called on the Council to “consider relocating the Icarus sculpture to the centre of the Clareabbey roundabout”.
Cllr Howard told the meeting that the statue would be a “lovely gateway” to Ennis if it was moved to Clareabbey.
Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said he would like to see the 11-tonne statue brought back to the centre of Ennis rather than Clarecastle.
Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) called for a vote on the matter, urging the Council to install the statue at the Clareabbey roundabout.
However, in his response, town clerk Eddie Power stated that a site on the N85 western relief road had been chosen as a new location. He explained that design work on a new base for the statue had already started at the Rocky Road roundabout. He told the meeting that € 20,000 has already been committed to the project.
Town manager Ger Dollard said the Council was involved in three major sculpture projects – the Information Age Sculpture at Clon Road; Icarus and its replacement piece in the Market – a sculpture of two farmers and a cow.
He said it was “too late in the day” for a new location for Icarus. “The horse has already bolted in that re- spect,” he added.
The Icarus statue was designed by the renowned Irish sculptor John Behan. It was gifted to Ennis Town Council by the former Shannonbased company Guinness Peat Aviation in 1990 to mark the town’s 750 year anniversary.
Behan titled his work Daedalus though it became known locally as Icarus.
The sculpture had occupied a place on the roundabout at the heart of the market area of the town prior to its removal in December 2006.