Ireland's first 'permanent' Pride rainbow road crossing faces erasure due to lack of maintenence
The crossing features prominently on Arklow's Main Street, with two rainbows stretching across the road at the traffic lights in front of the town's post office.
The rainbows were painted in December 2021 at a cost of €1,500 following five years of campaigning led by Dave Thomas, filmmaker and co-founder of Wicklow Pride.
During the unveiling, Thomas hailed the crossing as 'very symbolic of inclusion and accepting diversity'.
Despite this, the local council has decided to allocate no funding towards its maintenance, citing conflicts with road safety compliance.
With the Arklow crossing in urgent need of refurbishment, local councillor Peir Leonard raised the issue during the Arklow Municipal District meeting earlier this month.
She asked whether the crossing could be included on the road marking list and also enquired about funding that may have been specifically allocated for its repainting.
In response, district engineer Avril Hill stated she was not aware of any funding that had been ring-fenced for the project.
Hill added that a notice of motion has been passed with regards to 'recognising Pride in the community', and said that the council is 'moving away from Pride crossings towards something else that is more prominent'.
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She went on to say that the crossing is not compliant for people with additional sight needs, and explained that the council is 'not looking to refresh it' as it is not complying with standards.
In a statement after the meeting, Dave Thomas said that the lack of funding for maintenance was 'a devastating blow' to the LGBTQIA+ community in Arklow.
'This is not just about paint on a road. It is about what that paint represents – equality, dignity, and recognition,' Thomas said.
'To remove it now, at the start of Pride Month, sends a toxic and deeply harmful message, not just to us here in Arklow, but to LGBTQIA+ people across Ireland. It feels like abandonment.'
Thomas added that it is a 'failure' by the local council to 'stand by our community'.
The crossing has faced protest from homophobic and far-right groups, including a threat by the so-called 'Proud Boys Ireland' group, who
threatened to spill white paint over the crossing in 2022
.
'We cannot allow Ireland's first permanent Pride Rainbow Crossing to be scrubbed from existence. To do so would be an act of erasure, not just of colour on tarmac, but of the lives, identities and contributions of LGBTQIA+ people across this country,' Thomas said.
Arklow remains an outlier in Wicklow, as it remains the only town in the county to feature a Pride rainbow crossing.
In 2023, Wicklow County Council had voted to to create permanent Pride rainbow crossings in each of its municipal districts, but these have failed to materialise.
Council officials have since cited the absence of national legislation as a reason for the delay in installing further crossings across the county.
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