Attack on Mayor Mike is an attack on us all

Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Racist and homophobic idiots haven’t gone away during Covid-19. They’re still very much a stain on our city.

We’ve witnessed two instances of ugliness in the past week. One, at the Westside Community Centre, involved the Mayor of Galway, Mike Cubbard (Ind); the other was just general racist nastiness.

Mayor Mike was once again targeted by an illiterate, ignorant gobdaw. Calling the First Citizen a “Fagit (sic)”, this particular boil on the buttocks of society, who cannot spell, also menacingly threatened to “burn (Cubbard) out of it”.

Tempting as it is to dismiss this graffiti as an act of a crazy, attention-seeking ingrate, it is a concern for Mayor Mike, his wife Karen and young children. It happened last year, too, and we must all condemn it – an attack on the Mayor is an attack on us all.

Meanwhile, a racist slur was spray-painted onto the bridge at the Dyke Road. Some ignoramus sprayed the phrase “blacks out” on the bridge wall last Thursday. A meaningless slogan in many respects, but a menacing, hurtful and racist one nonetheless.

Councillor Owen Hanley (Soc Dems), spray-painted over the offensive slur with black paint after it was brought to his attention.

One in five Galway City residents are non-Irish nationals, and we like to see ourselves as the multi-cultural capital of Ireland. But last week’s acts of vandalism remind us that pig-ignorance remains.

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