Historic building target of vandals again

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 7

Historic building target of vandals again

Vandals struck again at the Provincial Council Buildings during the weekend, splashing paint around a small courtyard and on to an arched door, walls, and windows of the historic building. They broke into a shed in which the paint was stored and threw around many litres of white, brown, and grey paint. The same shed had been broken into a week before and paint was stolen.

On that occasion, a wooden door leading into the courtyard was broken down and entry forced into the old wooden shed. A quantity of paint, which belonged to the contractors repainting the building, was stolen but found by staff of

the contracting firm. It had been hidden in bushes near the building.

At the start of the Christmas holiday period a fire in the Armagh Street wing of the building damaged an area adjoining the Children and Young Persons Court, near a staff tearoom, and toilets. The fire was investigated by the police. It occurred a week after a brief blaze in the main office building of the Justice Department across the road from the Provincial Council Building. The fire was extinguished by an automatic sprinkler system, but damage was caused to some office records.

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