By Dionne Meehan
RESIDENTS in Raphoe were left feeling disgusted at the weekend when flower boxes and trees were vandalised in the Diamond.
Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, vandals emptied flower boxes and broke tree branches counteracting the hard work carried out by Raphoe Tidy Towns.
Martin Laird, who is in charge of Raphoe Tidy Towns, takes great pride in his work.
From picking up litter to planting flowers, the group work tirelessly in a bid to enhance the town centre.
Mary Harte, Chairperson of Raphoe Community in Action, has expressed her disgust following the incident at the weekend saying it has made her “extremely angry”.
“We are not accustomed to vandalism in Raphoe.
“In general, people are very respectful of the town centre,” she said.
Like many towns in Donegal, Raphoe has been part of the Town and Village Renewal Programme for the last three years.
Between painting facades on buildings, replacing doors with Victorian and Georgian doors and replacing flower boxes and flower beds in the
Diamond, Mary said they have spent €250,000 enhancing the centre of Raphoe.
“I have been to the forefront as the Chairperson of Raphoe Community in Action along with Raphoe Tidy Towns and we have been constantly upgrading, talking to landscapers and looking at how we can improve the look of the town.
“Then to suddenly see someone come along and start smashing the branches off the trees and pulling up all the flowers is extremely upsetting.
“It isn’t a nice thing to happen when you are a resident of a town,” she said.
With An Garda Síochána currently investing the incident, Mary is hopeful they will pinpoint the people responsible.
“There is CCTV footage which they will be inspecting.
“We have no idea who is responsible, but there is somebody responsible,” she said.
Condemning the incident at the weekend, Cllr. Gerry Crawford said he hopes this sort of vandalism will come to an end.
“Hard work is put in to the upkeep of the town and the enhancement of the town by many people, in particular, the Tidy Towns group.
“Something like this is disheartening and unbecoming of the efforts that these people make.
“It is appreciated by a vast number of people and I am sure what happened at the weekend is condemned also by a vast majority of people,” he said.
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