Councillor brands removal of graffiti from Cork bridge 'a bit of a half-arsed effort'

Cork City Council's director of operations, David Joyce, accepted that the cleansed stonework has highlighted just how filthy the rest of the bridge is.

A section of the stonework on South Gate Bridge was defaced with graffiti tags. The defaced section has now been cleaned. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cork City Council has been accused of “a bit of a half-arsed effort” by not giving an historic city bridge a full clean during a successful graffiti removal operation.

A council cleansing crew has removed unsightly graffiti from a section of the South Gate bridge’s western road-facing wall less than a week after the issue was highlighted in the Irish Examiner.

The crew was only told to remove the graffiti from the affected stonework. They were not told to clean the rest of the stonework. Picture: Larry Cummins

The crew was only told to remove the graffiti from the affected stonework. They were not told to clean the rest of the stonework. 

But their expert cleansing work has only served to expose how dirty the rest of the bridge is. Local Independent Cllr Mick Finn welcomed the removal of the graffiti but said the cleaned patch now sticks out almost as badly.

“This is a bit of a half-arsed effort and not good enough given the significance of this historic structure,” he said.

“This is an historic bridge, used by thousands every day to go in and out of the city.

“The entire bridge now needs to be done — surely this can be done?”

The council’s director of operations, David Joyce, accepted that the cleansed stonework has highlighted just how filthy the rest of the bridge is.

But he said it was the council’s immediate concern and priority to remove the graffiti, and not to do a full deep clean of the bridge’s stonework, which he said would take some time and planning.

Picture: Larry Cummins

A full cleanse of the road-facing and river-facing sides of its walls would also involve extensive health and safety measures and precautions for working over water, which would cost several thousand euro, he said.

And while there are no immediate plans to undertake a full and extensive deep clean of the bridge, he said consideration will be given to cleansing the roadside walls.

While the area is earmarked for tens of millions of euro in investment in urban regeneration — including the revamp of Bishop Lucey Park, as well as major public realm upgrades to start this year on South Main Street, Tuckey Street, Crosses Green and Proby’s Quay, including two new pedestrian bridges onto the event centre site — the spate of graffiti attacks on property in the area had sparked concern.