The man who vandalised The George Bar in the early hours of Saturday morning has been arrested

A young man in his 20s named Eoin Berkeley was arrested for criminal damage after CCTV footage revealed the perpetrator of the homophobic graffiti on the exterior of The George Bar.

The twenty-three-year-old  vandal from Finglas drew a Nazi swastika alongside the words ‘Fag Bar’, ‘Faggot Bar’ and ‘Faggots’ in chalk on the outside of The George.

All three of The George’s security cameras captured the incident, and The George intend to hand the footage over to the Gardaí to aid their investigation.

This act occurred as LGBT people in Ireland celebrated the two year anniversary of the Marriage Equality Referendum in Ireland.

“This is the home of the gay community in Ireland and it’s nice to reflect back on two years ago,” said Darragh Flynn, The George’s manager.

“It was truly a special day and it was an amazing feeling that will stay with me for the rest of my life, I’ll never forget how proud I was of being Irish that day.

Berkeley appeared in the Dublin District Court this morning in connection with the charge of criminal damage brought by The George and was released on his own bond of €150. He is scheduled to reappear in court on July 4.

Pictured: The man charged with criminal damage after attack on gay club The George https://t.co/5PiMjShtwi

— Irish Independent (@Independent_ie) May 22, 2017

Gradual Change

Darragh Flynn, The George’s manager, disclosed that this is the first incident of vandalism since 2015’s referendum.

“Before the referendum, our windows at the front would get broken on a regular basis, but since the referendum that hasn’t happened,” said Flynn.

“Things are getting better. It’s not an overnight change, it’s a gradual change, but I believe we are moving towards full acceptance. It will maybe take a generation but it’s getting better.”

“What really touches my heart is the support. We’ve had numerous local business that have offered to wash the front of the building and I’ve been getting text messages from people who aren’t even in the country offering to donate the cleaning costs.

“I’ve had at least 10 offers from people to actually come in and paint the front and get rid of the graffiti, so that’s what I really want to focus on.”

Some passersby in cars stopped at the traffic lights on George’s St while the man was vandalising the bar, Mr Flynn revealed, but none of them confronted the anti-gay offender.

Photo credit: Gary Shaw (Twitter)