Three of Ireland’s former ambassadors to Argentina attended the event. From left, Paula Slattery, Dublin, Justin Harman, Dublin, and Philomena Murnaghan, Omagh. Mr Harman has encouraged the Longford Westmeath Argentina Society to work towards determining where a bust of the Argentine liberator, General José de San Martín, donated to the Irish state 59 years ago, could be erected.

New effort to find home for San Martín bust hidden since 1966

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A drive to have a historic bust that was presented to the Irish nation in 1966 erected in Westmeath or Longford looks likely to begin, following a revelation that the statue has now been in storage for almost 60 years.

The life-sized bust of General José de San Martín, Argentina’s national liberator, was gifted to Ireland as the country marked the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising and Argentina was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its independence.

The former Irish ambassador to Argentina, Justin Harman, addressing the annual asado of the Longford Westmeath Argentina Society at The Rustic Inn at the weekend, revealed that a delegation visited this country from Argentina to mark the joint anniversaries, and brought with them the bust, which was presented to the taoiseach of the day, Seán Lemass.

“It was accepted on behalf of the nation, but unfortunately went into a storeroom in Dublin and it has never seen the light of day since,” Mr Harman told the event, adding that one stage, Minister Frank Aiken had written to the then Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan Senior, suggesting that the sculpture should be erected in Westmeath.

“There’s no record of a reply ever having issued to that, and the result is that we still have a situation where this bust is sitting in a storeroom in Dublin.”

Mr Harman went to on tell those present that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the Southern Cross, the newspaper that serves the Irish community in Argentina, and that as part of the celebrations, one of the objectives is to try to encourage an initiative to have the bust of General de San Martin erected in Longford or Westmeath.

He said the inscription under the bust reads: ‘The Argentines of Irish ancestry present to the Irish nation this bust of General José de San Martín, the liberator of the land which afforded such generous hospitality to their forefathers, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of Argentina and the 150th anniversary of the Easter Rising.’

The chairperson of the Longford Westmeath Argentina Society, Una Byrne, reacted with enthusiasm to Mr Harman’s challenge, and said that the task of finding a location where the bust could be erected is a project the society will take on.

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