Call to ‘bring back the man on the horse’ at Mallow roundabout
“WHY not bring back the man on the horse” ... was the view of Cllr Timmy Collins (Ind) on the Annabella Roundabout in Mallow, which has been revamped.
At the Kanturk Mallow municipal meeting, Cllr Gearoid Murphy (FF) raised the “condition of the Mallow roundabout” and asked if any more work was to be undertaken. It was his view that a “new design should be found” and that all planting should be re-done. “If this is a permanent fixture I don’t think the people will like it,” he said.
Cllr Collins went on to say: “Why not bring back the man on the horse?”
Jim Moloney of Cork County Council said the roundabout is being overseen by the National Design Office. However, he did say that the landscaping finish “to date has not been satisfactory”.
“A landscape architect was on site yesterday and we have sought replanting as the finish to date has not been satisfactory,” Mr Moloney said. “There was a lack of maintenance by the contractor and it was a very dry summer and a lot of the planting has died.”
Regarding the Michael Quaine ‘Horses and Riders’ statue that, due to its size could not be put back after the revamp, Mr Moloney said: “This design was approved by the councillors back some time ago”. Mr Moloney said that in the recent Tidy Towns results the roundabout got “a very positive reaction”.
At a previous council meeting in May 2016, which was held in Newmarket, councillors were told that a feature for a new roundabout has to be less than 1.05 metres high and, because of its overall height, it would mean that the famed man on the horse would be on the move. At that meeting, with a laugh, Cllr Timmy Collins (Ind) said that the best place for such a sculpture was at “the racecourse”.