Under the cloak of darkness in the early hours of Sunday morning, a person known by his/her paintwork as Nash scaled an incredible height to decorate the gable end of Garvey’s bar and hotel on Eyre Square with graffiti.
The same graffiti was also found at the side of Eason’s on Church Lane, and adjacent to the former John Deeleys mens store at the bottom of Shop Street.
The three locations were blighted with the same ‘tag’, an underground logo which represents the individual graffiti artist’s work, and the words ‘Nash Keane’. The graffiti is more commonplace in bigger cities, and proprietor of Garvey’s Terry Clinton said: “This was obviously a planned attack”, and not an event of chance by a drunken reveller.
According to the hotel and bar owner, scaffolding had been erected at an adjacent premises during the week, and the perpetrator must have planned the route up and down.
In order for him/her to have gained access to the wall he/she needed to climb three storeys up the scaffolding and along the ledge of an unprotected roof top.
“Times are hard enough as it is without having to deal with vandalism as well”, said Mr Clinton. He estimates it could cost thousands to cover the graffiti due to the nature of the paint used.
“The sickening thing is that it’s a landmark building for people coming to Galway. It doesn’t give a good picture of the city when this is the first thing you see leaving Ceannt Station,” says Mr Clinton.
Not only is he concerned for the costs incurred by both himself and other businesses, but also for the safety of the elusive Nash.
