Put him on a pedestal! Calls made for Big Jack statue
A FORMAL proposal to commission a commemorative Jack Charlton statue has been lodged by a Dublin City Councillor.
It was announced last week that a €600,000 fund was to be allocated to pay for six new statues around Dublin and Cllr Anthony Flynn lodged an application for a statue of the former Ireland manager.
A statue is planned for the plinth on Dame Street where a Daniel O’Connell statue stood before being moved to the Rotunda Hospital, but Deputy Lord Mayor Mary Callaghan, suggested the Aviva Stadium would be a suitable place to erect the effigy. Ms Callaghan estimated the statue would cost around €100,000.
‘I think somewhere like the Aviva would be a good spot, just because he was celebrated there,’ she said.
‘My own view is that the relationship our country had with Jack Charlton is such a feel-good thing. It’s very important in the context of the Irish-English relationship.
‘He was a great man and did a lot for Irish football and sport in general. I would be very in favour of it.’
Ms Callaghan said that there is €600,000 allocated for six statues to be built but the money has been already allocated. ‘What we need to be careful of is that we don’t take money away from the community projects...That would be my only thought on this,’ she said.
And she said that the fear of vandalism should not stop the project.
‘It’s always going to be an issue and really it is a Garda issue or a security issue. But, we can’t not put up statues because people want to damage it. I certainly think [the statue] would get a lot of respect.’
Independent Cllr Mannix Flynn said that he expects a statue of Jack Charlton to be erected outside Dublin’s City Hall on Dame Street but added that he should be commemorated outside of Dublin too.
‘I am sure that someone will put forward a motion for a commemorative statue of Jack Charlton on the plinth outside Dublin City Hall.
‘I also think that people will want to commemorate Charlton in a national way because he was in charge of the national team. It is not just a Dublin thing – despite it taking the lead on this,’ he said.