Aosdána calls for Artane Band to change its name
AOSDÁNA – the State’s chief cultural body – has called for the Artane Band to change its name and get rid of its trademark blue and red uniform, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The elite group of 248 artists made the call at its AGM last week after it adopted a proposal by the author and Dublin City councillor, Mannix Flynn, who called on the management of the Artane Band and the Artane School of Music to enact the changes as soon as possible.
The motion adopted by the artists’ group, which is made up of writers, poets, painters and architects among others, mirrors a unanimously adopted motion by Dublin City Council last November also requesting the Artane Band to change its name and uniform.
Cllr Flynn said Aosdána’s decision to pass the motion represented a ‘deep recognition’ of the suffering survivors of industrial schools have experienced and continue to experience.
He told the MoS: ‘The symbol of the Artane Band, its uniform, its name, its insignia and its history are deeply traumatising and hurtful to the many thousands of us who were incarcerated in industrial and reform schools run by the Christian Brothers and other religious organisations.
‘Indeed, many children from mother and baby homes were incarcerated in Artane. Many more were press-ganged into the band where children suffered horrendous abuse, sexual and otherwise, in the band room.
‘Many of us still carry these scars and we find it wholly unacceptable in this day and age having gone through all of the various inquiries including the Ryan Report, that the Artane Band still marches under that banner and in the uniform of the residential industrial school, Artane, St Joseph’s where it was formed over 150 years ago.
‘It is no excuse in this day and age to say that the children in the present band are well looked after or that the children in the band at present are going to be in any way hurt by a change of uniform and change of name.’
‘In a world where symbols of this nature are being frowned upon, one only has to cite the symbols of slavery and the decommissioning of public monuments to realise that the time has come, and is long overdue, for the oppressive symbols of the Artane Band, its uniform and its name, to be consigned to history.’
Mr Flynn also said it was ‘absolutely outrageous’ the Artane band in its present form should continue to be featured so prominently by RTÉ and the GAA.
The band traditionally leads out the teams before the All-Ireland football and hurling finals at Croke Park each year.
‘It’s wrong that the likes of the GAA and indeed RTÉ would blatantly display these symbols and this band without having any regard whatsoever for the ongoing dreadful suffering many thousands of children had to endure in residential institutions,’ Mr Flynn added. He said the Ryan Report into abuse of children at industrial schools found the Artane band was the public face of industrial schools.
‘It was used as propaganda to reassure the public that those in residential institutions such as Artane and Letterfrack were receiving good care and education. But as we all know now, the reality was very different. Indeed, many of those that were in this band have since committed suicide. And many more who are alive today can’t even look at a GAA match or go to Croke Park where the band is playing.
‘This is our present-day suffering, and it needs to stop. It is time now for change. Stop this re-traumatising and let us begin a proper process of recovery and healing.’
In response to queries from the MoS, a RTÉ spokesperson reiterated their position that it is ‘a matter for the GAA’. The GAA was contacted for comment.
‘Many of us still carry these scars’
‘Many can’t even look at a GAA match’