PSNI hunting culprits who covered Ulster Rugby homeground with anti-Kingspan graffiti

The graffiti reads “Grenfell” and “no justice”, and is a reference to the Grenfell tower fire in which 72 residents of the west London towerblock of the same name died.

The fire was five-and-a-half years ago, and external cladding was blamed for spreading the inferno.

Ulster Rugby is sponsored by Kingspan, a firm which makes building products; indeed, the ground is officially called the Kingspan Stadium.

Some of Kingspan’s materials were installed on Grenfell tower at the time the blaze broke out.

Kingspan has been keen to draw a distinction between insulation and cladding.

A spokesman for the firm stressed that Kingspan only made about 5% of the insulation panels which sat behind the outer cladding on the building, and it was this cladding layer – not the insulation behind it – which was really to blame.

He also said that the whole cladding refurbishment of Grenfell Tower had been flawed by design – something Kingspan had no input into.

The PSNI said: “Police received a report of criminal damage at Ravenhill Park, Belfast, on Monday.

“Officers attended and noted a considerable amount of graffiti over the front of the premises.

“Our enquiries have just begun and we would appeal to anyone with information, particularly householders in the area who may have CCTV or other footage which may assist, to contact police at Strandtown on 101, quoting reference number 539 of 02/01/23.”

An inquiry into the fire in 2021 heard about messages between some technical staff at Kingspan, in which they had joked about their “s**t product”, spoke of telling “lies” about it, and said “LOL” when some of its insulation was only partially tested in an attempt to get it classed as fire safe.

Kingspan itself has condemned what it calls “the wholly unacceptable historical conduct and emails” by staff, saying it in “no way reflects Kingspan’s culture or values”.

It has also said: “The Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy that should never have happened, and Kingspan supports the vitally important work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the relatives and survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.”