The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has alerted gardaí after wording from a sign displayed over Nazi concentration camps appeared on one of its offices in Cork.

The wording was spotted yesterday by a Polish couple on a glass panel over the door of the department’s Intreo office on Cork’s Hanover St.

It read ‘Jobpath macht frei’.

The Polish couple said they were horrified given the similarities to the notorious German phrase ‘Arbeit macht frei’, which means "work sets you free".

This slogan appeared over the entrance to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.

The slogan over the gates of Auschwitz

The matter was brought to the attention of the Intreo office staff immediately and the sign was removed within 20 minutes.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner tonight, the Department confirmed that “an extremely offensive sign” had been placed on the outside of its office on Hanover St by “unknown persons” on Wednesday afternoon and was removed immediately.

“The Department very much regrets that this happened at one of its offices and it has reported the matter to the gardaí,” it said.

The Auschwitz Memorial, which preserves the site of the concentration camp, and which had been made aware of the incident, welcomed the swift removal of the sign but said any investigation must establish who was responsible for putting the sign up in the first place and why it was done.