'No place for this in our community': Antisemitic hate messages daubed on signs and walls at Cork nature trail

A spokesperson for Douglas Tidy Towns, which removed a slew of antisemitic messages from several locations along the Ballybrack Woods Trail, has said: “There is no place for this in our community.”

On Friday, a volunteer with Douglas Tidy Towns found that a number of message boards used to educate trail-goers on local biodiversity and heritage in the area, and another nearby sign and wall, had been sprayed with racist and antisemitic graffiti.

The messages, which were written in German, praised Adolf Hitler, and included the 1930s antisemitic slogan, ‘Jews out’.

Shocked and saddened 

Speaking to The Echo, Ken Rooney, communications officer with Douglas Tidy Towns, said a group of eight volunteers gathered to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible.

“One of our volunteers spotted it and texted into our WhatsApp group at about 8.15am on Friday,” said Mr Rooney.

“We all scrambled to get down there as soon as we could, and we were down at about 10am with our equipment.

“There is no place for this in our community, we’d like to think Douglas is a very inclusive and multicultural place.

“We were very shocked and saddened by it, especially given that they were on noticeboards regularly used to educate children,”

he added.

“It boggles the mind, I don’t know what motivates this.

“We hope as few people saw it as possible because we don’t think it’s an accurate reflection of Douglas as a whole.”

Deeply upsetting

Sinn Féin Cork South Central TD, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said incidents such as this are “deeply upsetting and worrying”.

“There must be zero tolerance of it,” said Mr Ó Laoghaire.

“Anyone who saw anything, I encourage them to contact the gardaí so those responsible can be brought to justice.

“I commend the Tidy Towns for acting so swiftly, they are a credit to the locality and do a fantastic job.”

Labour Party councillor for the Cork City South East ward, Peter Horgan said it was “despicable to see such antisemitic messaging daubed in any area, but particularly an area frequented by families”.

“I want to commend the swiftness of Douglas Tidy Towns for removing this hateful material,” said Mr Horgan.

“Anyone who knows anything about who was responsible should make themselves known to gardaí.

“If you know who was responsible and you say nothing, you are just as bad as they are.”