THE IRISH ECHO ON 1798 POSTER IN BELFAST CITY HALL

Hearing it from all sides

News & Views | admin | June 16th, 2011

By Ray O'Hanlon

Welcome to politics young man.

Sinn Féin’s recently elected lord mayor of Belfast, Niall Ó Donnghaile, more lad than lord by the look of various photos, has upset unionists by taking portraits of Prince Charles and the late Queen Mother off the walls of his office and replacing them with framed copies of the 1916 Proclamation and a poster commemorating the rebellion of 1798.

Nobody can claim absolute rights to the former, but the latter is the work of New York artist Brian Mor O’Baoigill who is not happy at all at the thought of his work being hoisted in a building where Sinn Féin and unionists are doing business.

“Republican dissidents are demanding Belfast’s new Sinn Féin Lord Mayor takes down a poster from his parlor which they claim insults Ireland’s patriot dead by being displayed in ‘a bastion of British rule,’” the Daily mirror, Irish version, stated in a report.

“Niall Ó Donnghaile removed pictures of Prince Charles and the Queen Mother from his City Hall office and replaced them with the 1916 Proclamation and a poster of the United Irishmen.

“However, the artist who created the poster commemorating Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen’s 1798 rebellion said he is ‘deeply offended’ that his work is on display in the mayor’s parlor,” the Mirror report stated.

And Republican Sinn Féin has threatened that if Ó Donnghaile doesn’t remove the poster, they will picket City Hall. Party spokeswoman Geraldine Taylor said: “Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy McCracken and Robert Emmet would be turning in their graves if they knew where their picture was hanging.”

IF is not so sure what these three greats of the Irish freedom struggle might be thinking on this matter, but Brian Mor O’Baoigill’s thoughts are easier to discern.

He told the Mirror: “I created the poster to honor republican martyrs who fought for Irish freedom. To display it in the home of the British government in Belfast is the greatest insult possible.

“The men of 1798 died to rid Ireland of the British. Hanging their picture in an office controlled and paid for by the UK makes a mockery of their efforts. When Belfast City Hall is located in a united Ireland, I’ll be honored to see my artwork displayed there. Until then, I demand Sinn Féin removes it.”

O’Baoigill, whose work has appeared in the Echo, told the paper that he was “devastated” when he saw a Northern Ireland TV news bulletin showing his art in the mayoral parlor.

This is a tricky one for the new lord mayor, the youngest ever to hold the office. Of course, one way out would be to take down O’Baoigill’s work and replace it with another depiction of 1798.

That’s a simple solution, but we’re dealing here with age old Irish arguments over republican purity, or lack thereof. More lad than lord. But not for long.

http://irishecho.com/?p=65169

THE DAILY MIRROR "POSTER IS AN INSULT TO IRISH"

The Daily Mirror – 13 June 2011
Dissidents demand Sinn Fein mayor removes City Hall art
Suzanne Breen
Republican dissidents are demanding Belfast’s new Sinn Fein Lord Mayor takes down a poster from his parlour which they claim insults Ireland’s patriot dead by being displayed in “a bastion of British rule”.

Niall Ó Donnghaile removed pictures of Prince Charles and the Queen Mother from his City Hall office and replaced them with the 1916 Proclamation and a poster of the United Irishmen.

However, the artist who created the poster commemorating Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen’s 1798 rebellion said he is “deeply offended” that his work is on display in the mayor’s parlour.

And Republican Sinn Fein has threatened that if Ó Donnghaile doesn’t remove the poster, they will picket City Hall. Party spokeswoman Geraldine Taylor said: “Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy McCracken and Robert Emmet would be turning in their graves if they knew where their picture was hanging.”

New York artist Brian Mor O’Baoigill told the Mirror: “I created the poster to honour republican martyrs who fought for Irish freedom. To display it in the home of the British government in Belfast is the greatest insult possible.

“The men of 1798 died to rid Ireland of the British. Hanging their picture in an office controlled and paid for by the UK makes a mockery of their efforts. When Belfast City Hall is located in a united Ireland, I’ll be honoured to see my artwork displayed there. Until then, I demand Sinn Fein removes it.”

Ó Donnghaile (25), Belfast’s youngest ever Lord Mayor, caused unionist anger when he replaced the royal portraits with republican ones last week to make City Hall “more balanced”.

However, O’Baoigill – whose parents are from Donegal - said he was “devastated” when he saw a Northern Ireland TV news bulletin showing his art in the mayoral parlour.

He is mystified as to how Provisional Sinn Fein came to own the poster as the only place it’s now sold is Republican Sinn Fein’s west Belfast headquarters.

O’Baoigill’s art has long caused controversy and condemnation. He designed an ad which flashed over an electronic billboard in Times Square in 1983 wishing IRA prisoners happy Christmas.

He was a cartoonist for ‘the Irish People’, the newspaper of pro-IRA group Noraid. One of his cartoons celebrated the IRA’s attempt to blow up the British cabinet in 1984.

Entitled ‘Brighton Beach Memories’, it stated, ‘Remember Maggie, we only gotta be lucky once’. The cartoon was unanimously denounced as “sick and revolting” by British MPs.



O’ Baoigill claims Sinn Fein and the IRA have “sold out” republicanism. He has emailed Ó Donnghaile requesting that his artwork be taken down but had so far received no reply. The US-based Irish Freedom Committee has urged Irish-American activists to contact Sinn Fein at Belfast City Hall to support O’Baoigill’s demand.



Some of Brian Mor O'Baoigill other art work.

TAKE IT DOWN FROM THE BELFAST CITY HALL WALL IRISH TRAITORS

Niall Ó Donnghaile
Lord Mayor of Belfast Belfast City Hall, Donegall Square Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 5GS

lordmayorsoffice@belfastcity.gov.uk



As the artist who created the poster to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the United Irishmen of 1778, I was deeply offended to see it hanging in your parlor in Belfast City Hall. Your stated purpose in hanging it was to help achieve parity for all those of various “cultural identities” that reside in Belfast. But, Lord Mayor, Belfast City Hall is the home of British government, not an art museum, and the United Irishmen of 1778 were not trying to promote a cultural identity, but were committed to liberating Ireland from British Rule. Hanging that poster in an office controlled and paid for by the United Kingdom makes a mockery of their efforts.

The quote by Wolfe Tone, at the bottom of the poster, could not contain a clearer message:

‘To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country – these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of protestant, catholic and dissenter – these were my means.’

When the Belfast City Hall is located in a united Ireland, not the United Kingdom, I would be honored to see my artwork displayed. Until then, I request that it be taken down. Moving the picture of the Queen of England from one wall to another does not in any way make Belfast part of a United Ireland. I object to my artwork being used to pretend otherwise.

Sincerely,



Brian Mor O’Baoigill


This is the video.

http://www.u.tv/News/SF-mayor-removes-royal-portraits/fe350e0d-c997-4d00-b387-2d9b9b98b31a