GARDAÍ HAVE ARRESTED a man in his early 20s in connection with an incident of criminal damage at one of Dublin’s best-known gay nightspots.
Yesterday morning at 5.30am a series of homophobic slurs and Nazi symbols were placed on the walls of The George pub.
They remained in place before being removed by management some four hours later.
The outside of the pub and the laneway adjacent to its entrance are covered by a sophisticated CCTV security system.
A spokesperson for the pub confirmed that the CCTV had been checked and the person responsible had been recorded in the act.
That footage was subsequently passed onto gardaí.
“Gardaí at Pearse Street have arrested a man in his early 20s in connection with an incidence of criminal damage at a licenced premises on George’s Street,” a Garda spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
The man was arrested earlier this morning. He is currently detained at Pearse Street Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
“We are very appreciative of the Garda response and the assistance that has been given,” the pub’s spokesperson added.
The George had taken to Facebook yesterday afternoon to profess itself “shocked and truly disheartened” by the vandalism, the first such incident of homophobia the pub had experienced in the two years since the same-sex marriage referendum.
Later yesterday evening, the pub’s Facebook page had posted a more upbeat message, suggesting that the anniversary of the referendum is of more importance:
Home is where the heart is <3 join us tonight as we get together to celebrate the Yes vote anniversary… no-one can dampen our glittery, Britney Spears lyric-filled hearts on days like these… we’ll see you on the dancefloor later.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say