Mayor of Newbridge, County Kildare, condemns ‘disgraceful’ vandalism incident on George's Street

The Mayor of the Newbridge has condemned an incident of vandalism in the town.

Fianna Fáil Cllr and Mayor Noel Heavey made the comments at the latest Municipal District (MD) meeting, which was held on Wednesday, November 15 last.

The subject came up when he motioned for Kildare County Council (KCC) to consider power washing/cleaning street sculptures and seating areas on George’s Street, Newbridge, 'in time for the Christmas pedestrian surge.'

His motion was seconded by leas Cathaoirleach and his fellow party colleague Cllr Anne Connolly.

In response, KCC told Mayor Heavey: "The MD office clean the seating area regularly."

"The maintenance of street sculptures is a specialist job which will not be completed in 2023," KCC added.

At the meeting, Mayor Heavey took the time to comment on a recent act of vandalism which occurred in the Georges Street area of Newbridge.

He said that a glass display containing a sculpture was smashed, and referred to it as 'a disgraceful act of vandalism.'

Mayor of Newbridge Noel Heavey, who is a county councillor with Fianna Fáil.

His sentiments were echoed by Social Democrats Cllr Chris Pender, who attended the meeting by virtual means.

Cllr Pender also asked an KCC engineer present at the meeting to look at cleaning 'the internals' of the display.

Independent Cllr Fiona McLoughlin-Healy, who also attended the meeting virtually, also commented on the matter: she noted that it was originally planned to put the art pieces (which cost €40,000) within the glass cases on walls in George’s Street, but this was deemed to be unsuitable by KCC, so they were placed in the glass containers instead.

"They’re ghastly looking, given the amount of money that has gone into them," she added.

Cllr McLoughlin-Healy also suggested for KCC to put them up as originally intended (without the glass cases), to which a KCC engineer told her that her suggestion would be looked at.

Independent Cllr Fiona McLoughlin-Healy.