“This is wanton destruction of public property that is costing each and every one of us.”
A former mayor of Donegal has criticised the “idiotic people” responsible for defacing road signs in the county in recent weeks.
Speaking to the Nine til Noon Show on Highland Radio on Tuesday, former mayor of Donegal Brendan Byrne addressed the defacing of a number of road signs in the county, on which both the English and Irish place names of various towns and villages have been spray-painted over in black in recent weeks.
Do you remember dual language signs in the Donegal #gaeltacht had the English graffitied out? In Gweedore someone is now doing this to the Irish placenames. More on the #NineTilNoonShow pic.twitter.com/8SnTPpy8xY
— Greg Hughes (@GregHughes2) September 3, 2019
Byrne said that the bill to repair and replace the signs will run into the thousands and that everyone in the county is going to suffer as a result as it will affect the council’s budget to provide services elsewhere.
“This is wanton destruction of public property that is costing each and every one of us and each and everyone of us will be relying on services from the council in the months ahead,” Byrne said.
“But the money for that is going to be less because of this wanton destruction by idiotic people that think by defacing Irish or defacing English is going to advance their linguistic cause.”
Elaborating on the suggestion that the graffiti might be an attempt by those responsible to revive the Irish language, Byrne added: “Going out with a spray can is not going to replace the chalk. If we’re going to revive the language, and we need to revive the language, it’s going to be through our homes, by teaching Irish to our children and in our schools and in our broader community.
“The spray can will not replace that as an instrument of language revival.”
You can listen to Byrne’s interview with Highland Radio here.
All images via Twitter/Greg Hughes
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
