COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

MOTION NO.  7

MOTION: Councillor Peter Kavanagh

"This Area Committee calls for a proactive approach in tackling graffiti in the Clondalkin area and asks for a report on efforts to manage this problem to date."

REPORT:

The Council's Public Realm Section is actively responding to graffiti across the county.  Any locations of graffiti which are notified to us or come to our attention are in the first instance inspected by the litter warden section to determine if the graffiti is on public or private property.  Graffiti which is on private property is, in accordance with the litter pollution act, the responsibility of the land owner to remove and this is conveyed to the property owner.

Graffiti which is on public property is being listed by the Public Realm for response and is being identified either as suitable for painting over or requiring specialist removal.  Graffiti which is suitable for painting out is being referred to the public realm operations staff for response.  Specialist removal is required where the surface or location is not suitable for painting, such as graffiti on a finished concrete surface or a cut stone or brick finish.   This specialist removal of graffiti was previously done by the probation service crew on behalf of the Council, however this crew has not operated since the start of the pandemic.  This led to the engagement by Public Realm of a specialist graffiti contractor through a tender process in 2020 and this contractor is being assigned graffiti removal work as necessary.  There are approximately 30 locations in the Clondlakin area where graffiti removal has been requested and these are currently being prioritised and will be dealt with in due course by either the specialist contractor or public realm staff.

The Council also has a Memorandum of Understanding with the ESB which sets out the details of their arrangements to deal with graffiti on their infrastructure in a timely manner.  Similar arrangements have been in place with other utility companies such Eircom and Virgin Media however these currently need to be renewed.  There has also been contact between the Council and Gas Networks Ireland about a similar arrangement being put in place for their infrastructure.