Shane MacGowan mural planned for Nenagh

A mural commemorating Shane MacGowan is to be painted in Nenagh.

Nenagh Municipal District has allocated €15,000 towards creating the mural at the junction of Emmet Place and Mitchel St, where a number of buildings were demolished recently.

Raising the matter at last week's district meeting, Cllr Séamie Morris mentioned that there had been a proposal to honour Fr Alec Reid with a mural at the same site. Cllr Morris said he still wants to see a mural in recognition of Fr Reid's important contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

But he was happy to agree to a tribute to Shane MacGowan at the designated site. Cllr Morris spoke of the recent performance of a Pogues tribute band at the Abbey Court Hotel; judging by the crowd drawn, a Shane MacGowan mural in the town festival in the Lower Ormond area would attract a great deal of visitors, he said.

Cllr Joe Hannigan was at the tribute gig and said he is looking forward to welcoming a big crowd to a “Broad Majestic Shannon Festival” this summer. He said he has spoken to Shane's sister Siobhán MacGowan and District Administrator Rosemary Joyce about the plans. Cllr Hannigan looked forward to see preparations starting in honour of Shane, who adopted this part of Tipperary as his home, and was himself adopted by its people.

Ms Joyce said the plan for painting a portrait on the Emmet Place/Mitchel St gable has been discussed with Ms MacGowan. She also revealed that two professionally-taken photographs of Shane - that are not in the public domain - have been presented to Nenagh Tourist Office. The pictures - one of which is of Shane with his late mother Therese - will be hung in the office.

Ms Joyce confirmed that the Fr Reid mural plan has “not been shelved” and would still happen if a suitable location is identified. The council has the information to provide to appropriate consultants in that event.

WATER TOWER MURALS

Cllr Morris also suggested painting a mural on the water tower owned by the council at Hawthorns estate in Nenagh. He said he has seen water towers painted abroad and they look well. A suggestion he had for the Nenagh tower was a mural of animals in reference to the importance of agriculture in the area.

Cllr Morris proposed that the council write to government seeking a grant for such a scheme, pointing out that there are many other towns around with water towers and they too could benefit.

Ms Joyce said the idea of painting the Hawthorns tower was explored as part of the Nenagh 800 celebrations. The council was advised at the time that such an undertaking would be expensive given the height of the tower. Ms Joyce said the council would look into a grant scheme subject to it having control over where the funding would be spent.