An artist’s impression of how the sculpture, which depicts sixth Century legend St Maeldoid's Pig, will look

A LEAPING pig has been commissioned for the side of a major road at a cost of up to €100,000 – but this is one pig might not fly with everybody.

An artist based in Scotland has already been paid €56,000 by Monaghan Co Council towards the development of the metallic structure.

David Annand has spent more than three-and-a-half years working on the piece, which depicts sixth century legend St Maeldoid's Pig.

It is expected to be shipped from Scotland to Ireland and installed on the approach route to Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, on the N2 Dublin/Derry route later this year.

However, not everybody is happy about the new monument. Town councillor and deputy mayor Brendan Hughes believes that the structure is "a terrible idea".

"This depiction of a pig at the exit to Castleblayney, when we are a town that's renowned for its musical people, I would refer to it as a monstrosity," he said.

According to the legend, St Maeldoid tried to build a monastery at Concra, on one side of Lough Muckno, but a black pig repeatedly knocked over the stones and carried them to Churchill on the lake's east side. The monastery was eventually built in Churchill and stands in ruins today.

Mr Annand is due to receive a final payment to make up a total of €90,000 in the coming months.

Another €10,000 is expected to be spent on the cost of transport and installation. The budget of €100,000 was allocated for the project as part of the Department of Environment's Per Cent for Art scheme.

Monaghan County Council chose the artwork by holding a public competition.

Spokesman for Monaghan Co Council Somhairle Mac Conghail said he was not concerned that people might attempt to climb on to the statue, citing that there had been no such incident involving another structure installed in Monaghan town last year.

Irish Independent