Offensives symbols and slogans anger residents

Offensive graffiti painted on walls, roads and rocks around the Lobinstown/Ardee area over the past week have caused hurt and upset to local residents.
There is particular anger that the perpetrators sprayed some of the graffiti close to Newtown National School.
Swastikas, the Star of David and offensive slogans have been painted in different locations around the area for the fifth time in two years, according to Cllr Paddy Meade, chairman of the Laytown/Bettystown Municipal area.
He said the graffiti had occurred close together, but in three different electoral areas - Kells, Laytown/Bettystown and Ardee.
“People are very angry and upset. They don’t want anything to do with it,” he said,
In one location the vandals have sprayed the slogan “Go home, foreign filth.”
“They have been particularly brazen,” said Cllr Meade. “As well as on the roads and on walls, this time, they went into a farmers field and sprayed onto rocks.
“I always though this was being done in the early hours of the morning, but this time CCTV caught someone doing it at 8.32pm. Unfortunately the person couldn’t be identified.
“This is insulting and hurtful to the people of the area,
“I am appealing to anyone who might know who is doing this to come forward with information.
“It is mindless graffiti, drawn badly and with spelling mistakes. It may well be someone with psychiatric issues and we want them caught, so that they can be stopped,”
He said that the attacks were costing the local authority a lot of money.
The Laytown/Bettystown crew was out cleaning up in their area.
“That was an entire day when they could have been filling potholes,” he pointed  .