The recent unveiling of the Sinéad O’Connor waxwork rightly caused the nation to recoil in disgust. So much so that the horrendous tribute was hastily removed and no doubt melted down with more care than it was constructed with. Waxwork museums are notoriously naff with most people going to laugh at the figures as much as anything else, but the rendering of Sinéad was so bad that you can only wonder how they thought they would get away with it?

The debacle has led to calls for a statue of Sinéad O’Connor to be erected in Dublin with Lord Mayor James Geoghegan going so far as to say he’s willing to circumvent current rules which state that somebody must be dead for 20 years before a statue is put up in their honour.

Sinéad O’Connor at Choice Music Prize 2022. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie

However, if we break that rule for Sinéad, surely, we’ll have to break it for Shane and Dolores and others. Is Geoghegan opening a pandora’s box by accident? There is also a list as long of your arm of Irish accomplishments and excellence yet to be recognised with statues. So why should Sinéad, Shane or Dolores skip that queue? You can be sure that they wouldn’t want to. And, while there are obvious, safe exceptions for people who will continue to have a massive impact on the Irish psyche for years to come, the twenty-year rule on statues does in general make sense.

Murals, plaques and other forms of public art are the obvious solution for celebrating Irish achievements today; but far too often Councils throughout Ireland have been overly restrictive when it comes to public art. Why shouldn’t every town in Ireland have a mural to their local heroes, whether they be musicians, actors, artist, poets, playwrights, scientists or inventors. Just look at how inspiring the Waterford Walls project has been or how Northern Ireland honours Ash, The Undertones, Derry Girls and so much more with vibrant street art which generates money for the economy. Why can’t we all get in on the action?

Imagine every Council in Ireland amended their boundary signs to recognise the accomplishments of local people. For instance, doesn’t ‘Now Entering Douglas, home of Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy’ have a nice ring to it? Or how about ‘Now Entering Liscannor, birthplace of John Philip Holland, father of the submarine? Plaques highlighting filming locations throughout Ireland anyone? These things are quick, cheap and easy.

There have been welcome calls for the arts to be fully recognised in the news recently, so why not in the streets? Imagine electronic billboards with arts news: highlighting how many books have been published by Irish authors so far this year, how many books have been sold, how many albums released, how many albums sold, how many tickets to gigs and theatre sold, how many prizes won. We are often told that seeing is believing, so think of this as an investment in inspiration which will pay considerable dividends in the future.

There are so many simple ways to celebrate and recognise the achievements of Irish creatives, but far too often we have chosen not to do it. Why do we as a nation struggle so much to recognise people while they are alive? We may well be the land of a hundred thousand welcomes but we’re certainly not the land of a hundred thousand well dones, but we bloody well should be.