“I certainly won’t be deterred as mayor and will be looking to have the flags replaced immediately.”
The Mayor of Waterford has criticised the people behind the burning of Pride flags outside the council’s offices in the city, describing the occurrence as a “disgusting” act.
Mayor of Waterford Cllr Damien Geoghegan had originally proposed flying the flags which had been erected in recent days at the local authority’s buildings in the city and Dungarvan.
The flags were set up to mark Waterford’ ‘Pride of the Deise’ weekend, a celebration of the LGBT community.
The ‘Pride of the Deise’ festival took place primarily online over the weekend in the county with events aimed at adults and teens taking place over recent days.
However, flags outside the Menapia Building on The Mall were burned overnight, the council were notified by security of a neighbouring premises.
“It would be a rare occurrence but it goes to show why festivals like Pride matter in the first place, because there are still people who view the LGBTQI community as legitimate targets of hate,” Geoghegan said on Monday.
“I certainly won’t be deterred as mayor and will be looking to have the flags replaced immediately.
“I don’t know the mindset of the people who would do this, it’s certainly not representative of Waterford and I really think the vast majority of people would be disgusted by that.”
Gardaí are currently investigating the matter and are understood to have CCTV footage of the incident.
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