Removal of Joe Deacy memorial ‘very, very hurtful’

TAKEN AWAY Mayo County Council said the memorial had no planning permission and was a visual distraction to motorists. 

Ger Flanagan

THE friends of the late Joe Deacy have labelled Mayo County Council’s decision to remove a memorial dedicated to the young footballer as ‘very, very hurtful’.  
Joe Deacy (21) from St Alban’s, UK, was found dead outside a house at Gortnasillagh, Swinford on August 12, 2017, with head injuries. Despite a number of arrests having been made in the homicide case, no one has been charged.
The Deacy family, regular visitors to the area, erected a memorial to Joe on the N5 Longford-to-Westport route near Swinford. However, Mayo County Council removed it last week, stating it had no planning permission and that it was ‘a visual distraction to passing motorists’.
St Albans-based St Colmcille’s GAC, which Joe Deacy represented with distinction, organised a number of memorial events in Swinford last August in their friend’s honour. Club PRO Shane Gill has said they have been very hurt with the Council’s actions.
“From the club and Joe’s close friends over here, we think it’s absolutely astounding that something like this can happen and has happened,” he told The Mayo News last week. He added that those who are grieving Joe had been shocked at the speed at which the memorial was removed and the lack of regard for Joe’s family and friends and for local villagers.

No warning
Shane Gill also revealed that the family and friends had not been forewarned about the removal of the memorial, and no contact has been made by Mayo County Council, despite numerous enquiries.
He said that feelings about Joe’s death are still ‘very, very raw’ at the club, and he stressed that everyone is keen to find a resolution. “We’re not looking to point fingers … All I would ask for, on behalf of the club, is some clear answers and some clear guidance as to how we can rectify the situation.
“There is a desire for a memorial there … and we’d love to know, with the help and support of the County Council, as to how we will get that done. We’re very respectful of the Council and the rules set out by such an organisation as to these memorials, but we would love to work very closely to see how we can get this achieved.”

Added misery
Joe’s father, Adrian released a statement last week in light of the Council’s decision.
“The family and friends of Joe Deacy are saddened and very disappointed with Mayo County Council’s decision to remove the memorials sited in honour of my beloved son,” he stated.
“Joe was never happier than when he was in Mayo, and this decision simply adds further misery on top of the heartbreaking fact that he was brutally murdered in the county that he loved so much.
“We are aware that planning permission was not sought prior to the memorials being erected, and for that we apologise, but we do not believe that we are alone in this oversight. We also believe that the memorials were a source of huge comfort to Joe’s many relations and friends who live in the vicinity of Bohola where the memorials are sited.
“This has become a place where they could visit and pay their respects, as well as to try and come to terms with the fact that Joe’s murderer(s) have still not been brought to justice.”
He went on to say that seeing the memorial could help to flush out the murderer(s). It might ‘trigger the conscience’ of the person or people responsible for Joe’s murder, he said, and prompt them to ‘face up to the magnitude of [the] evil act they have committed’.
The Mayo News contacted Mayo County Council for comment, but no response had been received by time of going to print.