DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has spent over €1.2 million on cleaning up graffiti since 2010, new figures show.
The figures, released to Fianna Fáil councillor Jim O’Callaghan, show that the council’s spend was significantly lower in 2014 than in 2013, but still reached €186,000.
The council is responsible for the removal of graffiti from their own property, which includes street furniture. However, they do also remove graffiti from private property in some cases, such as where the graffiti is offensive or the building is vacant.
The council says that it focuses on the city’s main thoroughfares and that the majority of graffiti is recurring. The spike in costs may be attributed to what the council says is “very specialised” removals, which can take place on protected structures.
O’Callaghan says that the issue can be tackled with the use of the Community Return Programme.
“The exorbitant cost of removing graffiti is simply too high when Council resources are limited and there’s a chronic homelessness crisis in the city.
The Community Return Programme is a scheme managed by the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service and the Department of Justice where prisoners may be granted reviewable temporary release with a requirement to do unpaid community service work such as graffiti removal.
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