LORRAINE HIGGINS SAYS she will report the defacement of two of her election posters with abortion graffiti to the gardaí.
The Labour senator, who is running for the European Parliament in Midlands North-West, said that one of her posters was stolen while two others were defaced with the slogan ‘Pro Abort’ in Leixlip and Maynooth.
“This is wilful criminal damage and dirty tricks and I am going to report it to the gardaí,” she told TheJournal.ie this lunchtime.
“I hope they take action in order to deter others. If people want to argue they should do it in a democratic way. This goes against everything that political discourse should be.”
The two defaced posters refer to the Labour party’s support of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill last year and long-standing support for the legalisation of abortion in certain circumstances including fatal foetal abnormalities.
Higgins said that the graffiti had been carried out by people who are “against this government who introduced legislation based on outcome of the X case”.
She said that she was happy to debate the issue, but not in such a “distasteful” way.
Higgins said that in reporting the matter to gardaí she hopes that those responsible will “realise fully the repercussions for defacing and defaming”.
The candidate added that a number of her posters have been removed around from areas around the vast, 15-county constituency and later replaced with other candidates’ posters, describing this is as the “usual dirty tricks in a campaign”.
Meanwhile, another Labour poster was defaced with this message in Cork earlier today:
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