A NAZI swastika and shocking racist, misogynist, and sectarian graffiti have all been recorded as incidents of hate-filled vandalism across Donegal, it is claimed.
The warning was issued following the discovery of shocking anti-Islamic graffiti at a beach facility last week.
Offensive slogans were spray-painted at Warden Beach in Fanad – but it is not an “isolated incident”, according to a Donegal County councillor.
Racist graffiti like “kill all Muslims” has appeared in Donegal.
Cllr Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig told the Donegal News that similar defacement with racist, misogynist, and sectarian slogans have surfaced across the county.
Anti-Ukrainian graffiti appeared at the beginning of the war in 2022 when Zs were spray-painted around Letterkenny.
He said: “A swastika flag was put up on a pole in a village outside Kilmacrennan and nearly every place in the county has had some sort of racist graffiti.
“Ukrainians got it, Pakistani people have had it, there has been misogyny, and it has been sectarian. I saw graffiti that said ‘kill all Taigs’.
“There was ‘Paki bastards’ graffiti in Laghey. There has been ‘kill all Muslims’ as well. Young people have been out removing this graffiti. Fair play to them.”
He added: “When we consider the motivations for this graffiti, we have to think that it would be dismissive to think that people who put up swastikas and racist graffiti do not know what they’re doing.
“I’d be very much shocked if the guards do not know about this.”
Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig added: “Racist graffiti is not alien to the people of Donegal in places like Glasgow and London and across Britain.”
Some of the offensive graffiti at Warden Beach toilets. Photo: Cllr Declan Meehan Facebook.
There was outrage last week when graffiti discovered scrawled over a public toilet buildings in Fanad.
The obscene language and offensive messaging at the scenic beach was branded “brainless” by Milford-based Cllr Declan Meehan, who condemned the “Islamophobic” graffiti as “scandalous, mindless vandalism”.
County Council teams are to remove the graffiti and the local authority is supporting the “ongoing Garda investigation”, said a spokesperson.
The council spokesperson added: “The council fully condemns this act of vandalism.
“It has caused considerable upset and concern within the local community. Every effort is being made to restore the facility, minimise the impact of the incident, and support the ongoing Garda investigation.”
Gardai issued an appeal in relation to the graffiti that occurred between 8.45pm on Sunday, September 13, and 9am on Monday, September 14.
Gardaí in Milford can be reached on 074-9153060 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.