Community vigils of light in solidarity with the families and friends of the two murdered men in Sligo are to take place locally this weekend.
Aidan Moffitt’s body was discovered on Monday with Michael Snee’s found on Tuesday.
A man’s been charged with the murder of both and has appeared in court and was remanded in custody to appear again via videolink later this month.
Gatherings have been organised for across the country and locals seeking to show their support for those affected are invited to Kilkenny’s Town Hall this (Friday) evening from 6:30pm.
While at the same time, Carlow Pride Festival team will be arriving to the Liberty Tree in Carlow Town.
John Paul Payne is one of the local organisers and says that the hosting of such events is very important, telling KCLR “We just wanted to show support for people out there who might feel fear or people who might feel afraid at what’s happening at the moment, just so you know that we’re here, we’re strong and that we’re going to make sure that everything’s okay”.
While Lisa Connell, Managing Editor of Gay Community News, says it’s time Ireland introduced stronger hate crime legislation; “We’re one of the only European countries that still doesn’t have proactive hate crime legislation but it starts even before that, this is about calling out homophobic speech and homophobic and transphobic and racist rhetoric and ideas and we need to start with education so that people understand that prejudice is not acceptable in our society”.
