Council homes in Waterford City have been targeted with graffiti calling for the Irish to be housed first.
Similar graffiti has appeared in other Cities around the country.
In Waterford, some of the graffiti is thought to have appeared on council houses that were already inhabited. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, as it has been reported widely and appeared in a Waterford New Communities Network presentation last week.
Fianna Fáil Councilor Eamon Quinlan has asked the Council to take a different approach to dealing with the graffiti. In normal practice, painting is the responsibility of the tenant, but Cllr Quinlan argues this is not a normal event, and suggests the Council should take on the responsibility of removing the graffiti themselves.
“Groups over the last number of weeks and months have been graffitiing, spray painting and defacing Waterford Council houses across the communities with messages of intimidation,” he explained.
“It is personal towards the families they don’t want to get the house or they believe should get the house. Dublin City Council has this problem too,” he said.
“I’m looking for Waterford City and County Council to step in, because we have a policy that once a family get a house from the Council they are responsible for painting, but painting and malicious spray painting are two very different things.
“I think we should help families that are being threatened out of their living situation,” Cllr. Quinlan added.
In reply, Director of Services, Seamus de Faoite, acknowledged that the policy did not envision such incidents.
“There have been a couple of cases that have been reported to us. Our policy is very clear on it: the tenant is responsible for the maintenance and painting on the property,” Mr. de Faoite said.
“Was that written with this in mind? Probable not,” he acknowledged.
“A concern I would have is that if you do this for one instance it might encourage more of it,” he continued.
“I would say that we’re looking at the matter and we are also working closely with An Garda Síochána. What we want to do as a housing authority is provide as much help and support as possible to all our tenants. We are looking at it,” Mr. de Faoite added.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
