Graffiti giving Varadkar’s home address ‘despicable’
Sinister messages the latest in spate daubed on walls in east Belfast
POLICE are investigating after sinister graffiti listing the full home addresses of Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney appeared in east Belfast yesterday.
The addresses were painted on a wall in Belvoir Street area and at a commercials premises in the Newtownards Road area.
Mr Varadkar’s name and address were daubed beside a loyalist mural depicting two gunmen and the words: “The prevention of the erosion of our identity is now our priority. East Belfast Battalion.”
It also features various loyalist logos, including that of the UVF.
Police confirmed they were aware of the graffiti and said enquiries were ongoing.
It is not the first time graffiti targeting Mr Varadkar has appeared in the area.
In January, a threat titled “an ode to Leo Varadkar” was painted in the neighbourhood, warning the ex-taoiseach he would be hanged if he “set foot in Ulster”.
Earlier this month, Cabinet minister Michael Gove’s name and address was painted on a wall in the loyalist Sandy Row area of south Belfast, alongside the message “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive”.
The recent spate of graffiti comes amid ongoing tension around the Northern Ireland Protocol, which unionists feel has left them cut off from the rest of the UK.
During a visit to Northern Ireland last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to address the concerns.
East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson said the latest graffiti was “pathetic”. He added that he had contacted Belfast City Council, which confirmed that the sinister message would be removed this morning.
“This achieves nothing. It is ultimately counter-productive at a time when we’re looking at pragmatic and constitutional solutions to the Northern Ireland Protocol,” the DUP MP said.
UUP leader Steve Aiken described the graffiti as “absolutely despicable”.
“Nobody should be doing this sort of thing. It’s very clear that all politicians and everybody in society should call out these sort of activities,” the South Antrim MLA said.
“Whether it’s Michael Gove, Simon Coveney, Leo Varadkar or whoever it happens to be, it’s completely unacceptable.”
South Belfast MP Claire Hanna said “this kind of politics by threat and intimidation is the past — people didn’t want it then and they don’t want it now”.
“It should stop. It’s a backward approach and it’s not going to achieve anything,” the SDLP MP added.