An art work based on a covert message sent by a republican prisoner to Mr Gerry Adams after the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands has gone on show - on the gable of a Dublin flats complex. The 36-foot high mural, by Shane Cullen, is the text of a message sent after Sands's death in 1981 by the IRA's leader in the Maze prison, Brendan McFarlane.
Known as a "comm" - short for communication - the message was one of many written in tiny lettering on cigarette papers or toilet roll and smuggled out or passed between republican prisoners during the H-Block hunger strikes.
The eight-line text, which is addressed to "Brownie" and signed "Bik", says: "To Brownie 2.15 a.m., Comrade Mor, I just heard the news - I'm shattered - just can't believe it. This is a terrible feeling I have. I don't even know what to say. Comrade, I'm sorry but I just can't say anything else. May God in his infinite mercy grant eternal rest to his soul. Jesus Christ guide and protect us all. God Bless. [Kiss hug kiss hug] Bik. [Kiss hug kiss hug]"
Mr Cullen has reproduced the text on the wall of Mountain View Court flats complex in Summerhill, in north inner city Dublin. It is one of several temporary exhibits in the area as part of a month-long public art project organised by the Fire Station Artists' Studios on Buckingham Street.
Called Inner Art, the initiative involves a series of works from Irish and international artists which are "responses to the Dublin inner city environment".
Mr Cullen, who exhibited the "comm" as part of a show in the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin last year, said he liked the idea that the mural would "provoke dialogue with people".
The Douglas Hyde Gallery show was "slammed" but he "believes so much in that work that I think it's worth extending it to the public." "The language in the text is language that I think everybody can identify with and understand. It is an expression of sympathy and solidarity and I'm interested to see if the text I'm using will have the same meaning for people who live in this area as it had originally. If it works, and people like it, I'll be happy."
Mr Tony Sheehan, from Fire Station Artists' Studios, said it was "totally incorrect" to view the work as a republican mural. "It's important to note that the mural is not a slogan for any one cause or another. It's an art work which is about sympathy and grief," he said.
Ms Marie Davis from Mountain View Court residents' committee, said people in the flats were "delighted" with the mural. She said a door-to-door survey was carried out among occupants in the 102 flats in the complex and families in 78 flats said they were in favour of the mural. The occupants of one flat were opposed and the rest were either not at home when the survey was carried out or expressed no opinion.