Fingal County Council has spent more on commissioned works of art under the Per Cent for Art scheme than any other suburban county council in Dublin in the past five years.

From 2012 to 2017, Fingal County Council spent exactly €327,474 on funding for commissioned works of art under the Per Cent for Art scheme, according to recently released figures.

Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council, in comparison, spent €154,384 while South Dublin County Council spent only €34,260 during the same period.

Under the Per Cent for Art scheme, 1% of the cost of any publicly funded capital, infrastructure and building development can be allocated to the commissioning of a work of art.

According to recently released information, the most expensive installation, which was funded by Fingal County Council, was a permanent sculpture located at Balleally Landfill in Lusk as part of The Hide Project. The installation as a whole cost €174,640.

The sculpture (pictured above) functions as both public art and as a fully functional bird-viewing tower.

Records released by Fingal County Council also showed that a total of €85,000 was allocated to the commissioning of various 1916 Remembrance installations. This included a statue of Thomas Ashe, a founding member of the Irish Volunteers.

The most expensive piece of art commissioned by Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council cost €55,500. The same records also showed that a further €12,864 was spent in additional costs including selection processes, events, curation and management costs.

Records released by South Dublin County Council failed to show individual allocation amounts. However, they did note that no works of art were commissioned between 2013 and 2015.

By Conor Shields