Doolan condemns “poisonous” graffiti

Threatening graffiti targeting An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been condemned by Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan.

The graffiti, which read “Kill Leo Veradkar” and “He sold out the Irish”, was visible near the Blackhorse Luas stop in the first week of January.

The graffiti was flagged by Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan, who said “regardless of deep differences with Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael, this offensive and threatening graffiti offers nothing to our community.”

Speaking to Southside People, Councillor Doolan said that the graffiti does not represent the area.

“I live across from where that graffiti was put up, and that graffiti does not speak for me, or the other people in my area who are trying to make it a positive place to live.”

Calling the graffiti a “distraction”, he invited people who take issue with politicians to make their voices heard at the ballot box in June.

“I want to be clear, I have spent my entire adult life campaigning against Fine Gael and what they stand for, but nasty graffiti like this has no place in our society.”

“The people have a chance to express their frustrations with the system in June and they are more than welcome to express that opinion at the ballot box instead of putting up this poisonous graffiti.”

Doolan said there are more pressing issues in Ireland to deal with such as the cost of living crisis and the lack of affordable homes, and threats towards politicians “solves nothing.”

“All incidents like this do is sow division; what I’m asking people to do is to roll up their sleeves and to work with us to solve these issues.”

I have contacted @dubcl asking that this graffiti is removed.
Regardless of deep differences with Leo Vradkar & Fine Gael I hope this is removed as soon as possible. This offensive and threatening graffiti offers nothing to our community pic.twitter.com/PnapS42MaY

— Cllr. Daithí Doolan (@DaithiDoolan) January 3, 2024

Doolan discussed the spectre of far-right politics in Ireland which has come into sharp focus in recent months.

The protest outside the Dáil in September which saw effigies of politicians hanging from mock gallows, November’s riots and the burning of centres earmarked for refugees have brought the issue to the forefront, which Doolan is keen to tackle.

“There is a nasty strain of politics in Ireland at the moment,” Doolan said, and said it was similar to the populist politics espoused by the likes of UKIP in the United Kingdom, Donald Trump in the United States and other right-wing populist parties such as Geert Wilders’ PVV in the Netherlands.

“I don’t want to overegg it too much, but there is a certain cohort of people who only want to cause disruption in this country,” he said.

“There is this populist element that doesn’t actually want to achieve anything, they have no in interest in moving Ireland forward.”

“There is a responsibility on all of us in society, be it politicians, the media, Gardaí, members of our local community, to stand shoulder to shoulder and expose these populist right-wing types for who they are.”

Doolan highlighted the likes of the Dynamic Drimnagh and various writer groups around the area as examples of positive change in the area and is more representative of the area he knows.

“Schemes like Dynamic Drimagh are more in line with the Dublin I know. These organisations help make Dublin a more positive and progressive place to live.”

Varadkar himself discussed the threats made against him in a media briefing before Christmas, saying he will not change his lifestyle in face of threats made against him by the far-right.

The Irish Independent quoted him as saying “I’m not going to give in; I see how other countries operate where politicians, ministers, prime ministers live in a security bubble and they forget what it’s like just to do ­normal things and live a normal life.”

“I don’t want to stop doing that, just for my own personal sense of being who I am, and I don’t think it’d be a good thing for the country.”

“I’ll keep on going to the cinema, I’ll keep on going to restaurants and bars, I’ll keep going to the gym and I’m not willing to have that changed.”