NAZI SYMBOLS, RACIST slurs and pro-IRA slogans were among hundreds of pieces of graffiti removed by Dublin City Council after complaints from members of the public.
The council runs a graffiti removal service that is based on tip-offs from members of the public, in addition to its regular removal of graffiti across the city.
Members of the public can use an online portal to flag graffiti, including graffiti that is racist, offensive or political, which Dublin City Council pledges to remove within 48 hours of it being reported.
A log of more than 2,000 reports by members of the public up to the middle of 2024 was released to The Journal under the Freedom of Information Act.
It details how the council received hundreds of requests to remove offensive graffiti around the capital, as well as the most-complained about areas (though these are not necessarily the places where graffiti most frequently appears).
According to the log, the most-complained about street was Tyrconnell Road in Inchicore, followed by Devoy Road and Emmet Road, both also in Inchicore.
Other streets that attracted a high number of complaints included Aungier Street in the city centre, Rathmines Road Lower and the South Circular Road.
Swastikas and other symbols associated with Nazi Germany were among the most-common types of offensive graffiti to elicit a complaint to the council.
Reports of swastikas were received across the city at locations including Abbey Street, Ballymun, College Green, Irishtown, Islandbridge, the Liberties, Pearse Street, Rathmines, Rathgar and Stoneybatter.
In January 2023, a member of the public alerted the council to more elaborate Nazi symbols near Wellington Quay in the city centre.
“A number of SS Wolfsangels, a Nazi symbol, were recently sprayed all up along Merchants Quay on a number of premises and on the hippocampus on Capel Street Bridge,” they said, requesting that the graffiti be removed.
Another member of the public contacted the council in June 2023 to request the removal of graffiti at Beresford Place near Busáras that appeared to equate the pharmaceutical industry to Nazi Germany.
The council also received dozens of complaints about graffiti professing support for the IRA, in areas including Artane, Ballymun, Drumcondra, Finglas, Glasnevin, Inchicore, O’Connell Street, Rathmines, Santry and Smithfield.
Most correspondence simply stated that the graffiti contained the letters “IRA” or slogans such as “Join the IRA”.
The council also received other complaints targeting Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and former Green Party TD Patrick Costello, which were more sectarian in nature.
In July 2023, the council was alerted to a piece of graffiti targeting Costello on Tyrconnell Road in Inchicore after he called on the Government to make 12 July, a date of Ulster Protestant celebration, a public holiday.
“Grafitti reads ‘Pat Costello isn’t Green Just Orange’,” the person wrote.
Several complaints were also received about racist graffiti, including the use of racial slurs or slogans supporting anti-immigrant protest movements.
In February of 2023, a member of the public contacted the council about a piece of graffiti in Finglas that said “Irish only, get them out”.
The previous month, another person complained about the words “Islam out” appearing on the John Gray statue on O’Connell Street.
Another person also complained about a racist slur being carved into the statue of Phil Lynott on Harry Street in the city centre last November.
“It is not by ink, it was a sharp object used to damage the statue,” the person said.
A number of people also contacted the council about antisemitic graffiti, including one person who reported graffiti on the Irish Jewish Museum in Portobello in 2023.
In November 2023, several people complained about the appearance of antisemitic graffiti on the Liffey boardwalk, which also featured the slogan “white power”.
Several complainants also contacted Dublin City Council in April of 2023 about a slogan in Inchicore that said “Jews out, peace in”.
The council was also alerted to a number of pieces of graffiti that supported both sides of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, which members of the public deemed offensive.
These included reports of “free Palestine” slogans in Ballsbridge, Portobello, Grand Canal Street in Dublin 2, and on Samuel Beckett Bridge.
Between last December and January, the council also received separate complaints about pro-Israeli graffiti.
One person contacted the council about graffiti in Rathmines using coarse language against Hamas and praising the Israel Defence Forces. Another person also complained about graffiti of an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian child in Dublin city centre.
Other complaints about offensive graffiti included non-political slogans, including a handful of complaints about sexual imagery.
A complainant who contacted the council about lewd graffiti in the Ratoath Estate in Cabra in 2023 wrote: “Some fool has spray-painted a penis on the walls of the lane. Children use this lane to get to three schools on Ratoath Road and should not be exposed to this filth.”
Similar complaints included a reference to “sex words in graffiti” in the Liberties, a “penis and a middle finger” on Cork Street and a “giant penis spray-painted on a wall” on Aungier Street.
The council also received complaints about graffiti saying “kill the rich” in four separate locations in different parts of the city, another complaint about a graffiti advert for vapes and black paint “accusing someone of being a rat” in Phibsborough.
The log stated that all graffiti that was complained about was eventually removed by the council.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say