Boot marks found on artworks damaged by vandals on popular Limerick greenway

FOUR artworks on the Castletroy Greenway were “kicked in” by unknown perpetrators who left “boot marks” on them within two days of being erected.

The Castletroy Greenway, which officially opened last year, is a pollution-free pedestrian and cycle path which runs along the Dublin Road.

Colourful, three-dimensional steel artworks depicting pictures of butterflies and wildflowers, were erected along the greenway just before Christmas after they were created by Barrett Engineering of Newcastle West.

Ann O’Malley, spokesperson for Limerick Tidy Towns, condemned the vandalism incident.

“I myself, and any other people I spoke to, were absolutely shocked and amazed that within such a short period of time, two days at Christmas, it could have been vandalised. While nobody saw anything, evidence suggests that it was kicked quite high in the air and boot marks were left on it.”

Anger and outrage following 'act of vandalism' in Limerick village

Limerick Tidy Towns is just one of the organisations supporting the greenway project, alongside Limerick County Council and URBACT - the European body backing the project.

“It’s really just incredible because there is so much support for the project in the community, so it is amazing that this happened so quickly,” said Ms O'Malley.

“The community had arranged events during the summer to show people what the initiative is about, to walk the area, to encourage public input - but it would appear that it is probably young people as it took great strength and agility to do the damage that is done,” she added.

The steelworks were created by Barrett Engineering, who have since evaluated the damage to see what can be done to repair them. 

It is a criminal offence to damage public property and a person found guilty of this offencecould be issued a fine, imprisonment of one year, or both.