Today I decided to visit St Stephens Green in order to photograph some of the sculpture and memorials. On my arrival the gate behind the Wolfe Tone memorial was locked. I walked on and gained access via the Leeson Street but I heard a bell ringing indicating that the park was about to close. I must admit that I was somewhat surprised to discover that the parked closed a 4PM. The park warden explained that in order not to impact on the the wildlife living in the park there is no street lighting so they must be closed before dark.

The Wolfe Tone Memorial at the northwest corner of St. Stephen's Green was crafted by the noted Irish sculptor Edward Delaney and architect Noel Keating. An exemplar of the lost-wax method of bronze casting, the awkward and slightly cumbersome stance of Tone's figure evokes the lack of resolution in Irish nationalist history with the failure of the United Irishman Rebellion of 1798, of which Tone was leader. The close proximity and shared backdrop by Keating creates a successful dialogue between the two memorials. Commemorating a man widely regarded as the father of Irish republicanism, the sculpture also marks an important watershed in national history and is therefore an important part of the group of important monuments in St. Stephen's Green and which has become a draw for commemorative sculpture. Delaney was one of the leading figures in Irish sculpture in the second half of the twentieth century and is best known for his later works that exemplify modern expressionism, of which the Wolfe Tone Memorial is one such example.

Behind the Wolfe Tone memorial and actually within the park is a Famine Memorial also by Edward Delaney.

Edward Delaney died on the 23rd of September 2009. Born in 1930 in Co. Mayo, he studied at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin then travelled to Munich, Bonn and Rome after being awarded fellowships and scholarships by the West German and Italian governments. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1959 and 1961, and has shown sculptures in Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Budapest. He won the Arts Council prize for sculpture (1962), its scholarship for sculpture and bronze casting (1964), and the RHA Award for Sculpture of Distinction in Bronze (1991).

His public commissions for the Irish government include a famine memorial and a statue of Wolfe Tone on St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, both from 1967, and a statue and memorial to Thomas Davis on College Green. He created a cross and figure of Christ crucified, as well as bronze plates decorating the baptismal font, for St. Michael the Archangel church in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. The open-air sculpture park in Carraroe, Co. Galway features a large body of his work.