Discontent over new £30,000 sculpture

June 1991

There are mutterings of disappointment around Co. Wexford about a £30,000 sculpture which will be unveiled in Enniscorthy’s Abbey Square at the end of June.

The muffled criticism has little to do with the stainless steel creation which represents Wexford Co. Council’s first ever take-up of the Department of the Environment’s special scheme for artistic works.

Instead, members of the county’s arts community are unhappy about the way the contract was handled, with their specific complaint being that the project was not publicly advertised.

Artists around the county were not given a chance to tender despite earlier approaches to Wexford County Council by local sculptors promoting the value of the 1% For Art scheme.

Under new financial regulations, the Department provides 1% of the cost of a major road or building project for the erection of a recreational or artistic feature to enhance an area.

Wexford Co. Council decided to avail of the offer for the first time on completion of the new bridge and road improvement contract in Enniscorthy eighteen months ago.

A funding application was successful and a sum of £30,000 was allocated recently. A local committee was then set up, comprising Council officials, public representatives, an Arts Council member, and well-known Irish architect, Arthur Gibney, to decide how it should be spent.

Acclaimed sculptor, Conor Fallon, a native of Wexford town now living in Co. Wicklow, was awarded the contract and his creation, which features a fifteen feet high stainless steel bird rising out of water, will be in situ in a month.

A spokesman for Wexford Co. Council confirmed this week that the local authority decided to availe of the scheme following representations both locally and nationally.

The appointed committee decided to arrange tenders by invitation only because of pressure on time. On the advice of Arthur Gibney, six people were approached, including three Wexford sculptors, Michael Warren, Dick Joynt and Conor Fallon. Of the six, four responded with design submissions.

‘If we had done it by public competition, we would have got a huge number of entries,’ said the spokesman. ‘We wanted to proceed with the project speedily because the money wouldn’t have been there forever.’

‘The bridge was completed in advance of us making the application so we had to be speedy and the people we invited to tender were highly-accomplished sculptors with a proven record in that area of work.’

The final decision on the contract was made by Wexford County Council following a recommendation from the committee.

He confirmed that the Enniscorthy piece was the Council’s first artistic endeavour under the scheme, but promised ‘it certainly won’t be the last’.

Cllr. Helen Corish-Wylde of Wexford Corporation raised questions about the contract following representations from local artists, but said later that she was satisfied it was correctly handled.

She would prefer if ‘selective tendering’ was not adopted, however. ‘I would prefer if it was open tendering so that local artists could at least have a chance to submit their own plan,’ she said.