[ad_1]
Crossing out Queen Victoria’s name on Cork street signs has resulted in three men being prosecuted for causing criminal harm.
Today, after a trial through the Irish language in the Cork District Court, the judge ordered them to make charitable contributions to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Judge Paul Kelly described the three defendants as people of the utmost sincerity, but ruled that they had no right to cause damages, even if they were damages too precise to promote their views.
“I have to find the proven facts,” Judge Kelly said.
He ordered them to pay 250 euros each to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul as a charitable contribution to end the matter without a conviction.
An Irish language interpreter was available to translate some of the tests.
This followed a successful legal challenge by one of the defendants, Diarmaid O Cadhla, of Upper Beaumont Drive, Ballintemple, Cork, asserting his right to have the case heard through Irish.
Mr. O Cadhla and two co-defendants, Tom O’Connor, of Mangerton Close, The Glen, and Tony Walsh of Carrigmore Park, Ballinlough, denied criminal damage to street signs at three separate locations in Cork City on 2 February 2017.
Garda Detective Neil Walsh gave evidence of the background that led to the charges.
He said: “On February 2, 2017, the names of the streets in the city center: Victoria Road on both sides of the street, Victoria Cross Road on both sides of the street and Victoria Street on the north side of the city … were damaged with black paint, particularly over the name Victoria in English and in Irish.
“I was commissioned to investigate following a complaint from Cork City Council.
“According to my inquiries, this was part of a campaign by a group called the Cork Street Names Campaign.
“This is a group that campaigns against the names of the streets, the names of the monarchy, in particular Queen Victoria. The Queen of Hunger they called her.
“Three suspects were more or less identified in an Irish Examiner article from February 3, 2017 with a photo of two of the suspects painting the street signs.
“Also on that date, Diarmuid O Cadhla did a radio interview with PJ Coogan on 96FM.”
State attorney Frank Nyhan said there were no disputes over the facts of the case, as it pertained to the application of black paint, but the three defendants denied the prosecution’s claim that this constituted criminal mischief.
They argued that Queen Victoria was the queen of hunger and should not be honored with the name of the streets of Cork.
[ad_2]