Council 'very disappointed' after graffiti scrawled on structures at Cork's Bishop Lucey Park

Cork City Council has said it will undertake efforts to remove graffiti from the grounds of the recently revamped Bishop Lucey Park “as soon as weather conditions allow”.

A series of graffiti tags have appeared at various locations across the city centre amenity, primarily on benches and other seating structures close to the eastern entrance, which opens onto South Main St.

This comes following the reopening of the park last year after a two-year closure for redevelopment works, at a cost of approximately €7m.

The modern redesign of the park introduced new features such as a pavilion, a plaza, and a new tower structure, as well as making the city’s medieval walls, which run through the site, a focal point of the amenity.

The graffiti observed at the site varies in size, colour, and content, most of which depict images of cartoon characters, swear words, or illegible text.

Disappointed

A spokesperson for Cork City Council told The Echo that apart from graffiti, “there has been very little vandalism” at Bishop Lucey Park since its reopening in November.

“Cork City Council is very disappointed to see this kind of attack on public infrastructure,” the spokesperson said.

“The redevelopment of the park in the heart of Cork city was designed to provide an amenity that could be shared and enjoyed by everyone. The footfall through the park and level of usage of the space, especially in recent weeks as the weather improves and the planting matures, shows how the new park is performing exactly as it was designed to. 

“Gardaí and the council’s city centre wardens mount regular patrols through the park, but they can’t be there 24 hours a day.

“Arrangements are in place to have the graffiti removed at a modest cost as soon as weather conditions allow, and once cleaned, special sealants will be applied to the affected surfaces to make any repeat vandalism quicker to address.

“Cork City Council remains committed to maintaining the park as a safe, welcoming and well-cared for public amenity.” 

Meanwhile, a garda spokesperson said that while incidents of graffiti in Cork have been on the decline, “it is very disappointing to see this”.

“Some people look at this as art, but this is public property and it’s defacing the new park,” the spokesperson said.

“There are some agreements with artists across the city, we’ve seen examples of that on electricity boxes, but they have permission – this is criminal damage.”