Street name group accused of vandalism in Cork

Irish street name campaigners who defaced several ‘Victoria’ road signs in Cork City have been accused of attacking the city’s heritage.

Members of the Cork Street Names Campaign took what spokesman, Diarmaid Ó Cadhla, described as “direct action to remove the name of Victoria, the Famine Queen”, from street name signs in Cork yesterday.

They daubed black paint over the name ‘Victoria’ on several signs along Victoria Road and Victoria Cross arising out of a campaign launched last October to rename Cork streets which commemorate British “aristocrats and war criminals” after Irish heroes.