Irish Examiner view: Public art pushed to the margins

The Shelbourne Hotel reinstated four statues removed earlier this year in a panic of political correctness spurred by the mistaken belief that two of them were images of Nubian slave women. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

As the heated debates south of America’s Mason-Dixon line show, it is very difficult and maybe sometimes undesirable to depoliticise public art. 

As one Confederate monument after another is removed from the public square, those unreconciled to today’s mores harden their position and maybe even renew a sleeping commitment to the old, unacceptable ideas celebrated through the statues. Those who think them inappropriate may also harden attitudes.