Limerick City of Culture’s Facebook page hacked

The Facebook page of the Limerick City of Culture appears to have been hacked overnight.

The unidentified hackers claimed they acted "to ensure that the people of Limerick and the cultural groups are heard" after the resignation of artistic director Karl Wallace and programmers Jo Mangan and Maeve McGrath this week.

A single post appeared on the Facebook page at 11.05pm last night after a fractious meeting of over 500 people including members of the artistic community as well as the City of Culture board's chairman, Pat Cox, and chief executive Patricia Ryan in the city's Clarion Hotel.

At the meeting calls were made for the board to resign and they were repeated in the post on the City of Culture’s official social media presence.

Those behind the takeover claimed it was "an act of solidarity" to support the cultural groups and citizens of Limerick. They called for Limerick city and county manager Conn Murray to publish more details on the five interviewed candidates for the post of chief executive, including where and when the interviews took place.

Mr Murray had told the meeting that in his 34 years as a public servant, he had never had his integrity questioned. “Unfortunately, people have decided to concentrate on personality and process rather than the delivery of a programme,” he said.

Anger was also expressed at the meeting about the resignation, and the manner of the appointment of Ms Ryan without a public competition. She will be paid €120,000 for her 18-month contract.

Ms Ryan insisted she would “very much like to continue working” with the City of Culture. “I have never claimed to have an artistic or cultural background. My job is not to provide the artistic direction,” she said.