App would help Mullingar capitalise on Joe Dolan statue's popularity - Dollard

More should be done to capitalise on the popularity of the Joe Dolan statue, according to a local councillor.

Speaking at the September meeting of Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District, Cllr Mick Dollard remarked that he was the cathaoirleach of the council when the decision was taken to locate the statue in Market Square in 2008.

Fast forward to 2022 and it is “one of the most photographed areas I would say in the entire country”, he says.

“I was actually coming down to the meeting today and there were a number of people taking photographs at the statue.

“There was a chap there singing 'Make Me An Island', one of Joe Dolan's hits.”

In order to capitalise on the enduring popularity of Joe Dolan , Cllr Dollard suggested that the council should look into developing an app that people could download and use when they visit Mullingar.

“We might be able to have some of the songs that Joe Dolan made internationally famous [on the app]. Would you look at creating an app where people could go the statue and put it on? I think it would be a very important exercise.”

When the Joe Dolan statue was unveiled by the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen in December 2008, over 5,000 packed into Market Square for the event.

Cllr Dollard was also one of the driving forces behind the council's decision to name the Joe Dolan Memorial Bridge in Ballinderry after the much loved singer, who died in December 2007 at the age of 68.

Describing the decision to name the bridge in memory of the late singer as a “huge decision”, Cllr Dollard noted that the Dolan family have a number of links to Westmeath County Council.

“The late Paddy Dolan, who was Joe's brother, worked as caretaker here in Westmeath County Council and the Dolan family would have played in the County Hall right beside us,” he said.