'Get them out': Gardaí launch probe into 'racist wording' on Irish tricolour flag in Limerick

GARDAI have launched an investigation after an Irish tricolour flag was defaced with what has been described as "racist wording".

Metropolitan district leader, Cllr Daniel Butler, contacted officers at Roxboro garda station after spotting the flag, daubed with the sentence "Get them Out" in blue marker pen, at the entrance to an estate in the Limerick suburbs.

"It's disgusting. It doesn't reflect our community. Our community is a very diverse community. Where that flag is planted, there are immigrants who live and work here," he said.

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"We are in close proximity to the hospital. So we have many people from diverse communities who work here. We have many people working in the various factories in the industrial estate living locally," added the Fine Gael councillor.

Cllr Butler described the slogan on the flag as "racist wording".

"It's highly offensive. We all know what they mean when they say 'get them out', and then to deface the Irish flag in doing so, adds insult to injury. The Irish flag stands for a globalised community. We have communities who come here to work, they have made a contribution to our society. And then to have to face that, it's incredibly disheartening and upsetting. A lot of these people are colleagues and friends who are going to be impacted by seeing something like this," he added.

A garda spokesperson said officers are "carrying out enquiries following a report received from a member of the public."