Unveiled: Mullingar?s tribute to Joe Dolan

 It`s not the first tribute there has been to the late Joe Dolan, and it certainly won`t be the last.

But there was an air of formality on Monday last, April 21, as plans were unveiled to erect a life-sized sculpture of the legendary Mullingar singer on the town`s Market Square.

The statue, which depicts Mr. Dolan holding a microphone in his typical stage pose, is expected to be in place on the Mount Street side of the square by November 30 of this year.

Mr. Dolan`s brothers, Ben, Paddy and Vincent, gathered with officials and members from Westmeath County Council at the Council buildings on Monday to view a miniature version of the statue, which is designed and will be produced by Mullingar company, Genesis Fine Arts.

“We`re very happy with the miniature, and we`re sure that Joe is looking down at us now,” Vincent Dolan told the Westmeath Examiner after Monday`s meeting. “He`s probably laughing at us, but at the same time we think he`d be proud.”

“He`d be especially happy that work on the statue will be carried out by a Mullingar business,” said Cllr. Mick Dollard, Chairman of Westmeath County Council, adding that the late singer was always a great supporter of the community and business life of the town.

Ben Dolan, who accompanied his brother in the music business for many years, was visibly moved by the miniature version of the statue. “We`ve had many meetings here over the past few months, and we`re very happy to see it moving to the next stage,” he said, explaining that the headstone on his brother`s grave at Walshestown Cemetery had been erected last weekend.

At the January meeting of Westmeath County Council, members of Mullingar Town Council agreed to the erection of a memorial in Mullingar to honour the memory of Joe Dolan.

An assessment committee was set up, consisting of members of the Dolan family, the Chairman of Westmeath County Council, two members each from the Mullingar Area Committee and Mullingar Town Council, a member of the business community in Mullingar, the Council`s Arts Officer, Catherine Kelly, George Lambden, the Mullingar Area Director of Services with the Council, the Senior Planner and a practicing artist.

The broad-based committee accepted submissions from designers, and elected to make their recommendations on an appropriate piece and location at a later date.

On January 28, the committee met to develop a brief for the commissioning process to erect a life-sized bronze statue of Mr. Dolan in Mullingar town. Ten “acclaimed artists”, who had previously worked on similar projects, were asked to make a submission for consideration by the committee by March 20.

The committee met again on March 26 and Wednesday of last week, April 16, to consider eight design submissions, and they agreed on one final model, and considered four locations in the town at which to place the statue