Vandalism dampens the holiday spirits

THE people of Gorey and Coolgreany have been left in shock following a spate of vandalism which took place over the Christmas and New Year period.

On the weekend before Christmas week in the early hours morning on Saturday, December 21 and Sunday, December 22, three cars had windows broken, and the case is still being investigated.

Gardaí confirmed that CCTV footage was obtained from the area but that this appeared to be a once off case.

‘There were three incidents of criminal damaged which stemmed from public order offences. It appeared to be a time of the year thing, as there were a crowd of people that shouldn’t have been there. It was a one night event and not an ongoing issue for the area,’ said Sgt Yvonne Connolly.

A Coolgreany local described the case as a total act of vandalism with no motivation.

‘A large number of our community were shocked to hear about vandalism with cars and private property badly damaged. It’s a sad reflection on our village when a couple of individuals see fit to take the law into their own hands and do so much damage, and it came as a total shock to everyone.

‘There doesn’t appear to be any association to the locality, it was just a rampage of destruction’.

Later on in the week, on Gorey’s Main street, the constituency office of TD Michael D’Arcy had the front window broken.

Commenting on this, the Minister said that he did not believe it to be a deliberate attack although it was unfortunate.

He confirmed that this act of vandalism has happened before and it’s a nuisance to him and his team.

Following on to New Year’s Eve, building equipment on site at Gorey’s Town Park was removed and set alight at the nearby skate park.

This resulted in the park being off limits to the public on New Year’s Day.

Malcolm Byrne TD condemned the vandalism at Gorey Town Park asking ‘How can somebody be so mindless and stupid as to cause damage that will only deny a great resource to many people? Those thugs need to be punished and made an example’.

District Manager of Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District Michael Drea said that the incident was reported to Gardaí and was an inconvenience to those hoping to use the skate park.

Finally on New Year’s Day, a car parked in the car park of St Michael’s Church received scratches which gardaí described as ‘nasty’.

Commenting on these cases of vandalism, Sgt Stephen Ennis said that investigations are continuing in to some cases.

‘I would imagine that the number of cases being high just show the time of the year it was, but it doesn’t excuse it’.