Four Dublin local authorities are collectively spending over €500,000 annually on graffiti removal, with hundreds of incidents involving offensive, racist, and homophobic content being reported, reports Breaking News.
Together, the Dublin councils spent €1.026 million during 2023 and 2024 to clean up more than 4,600 instances of spray painting, tagging, and hateful messaging aimed at minority groups.
Dublin City Council faced the highest costs, allocating €700,000 to graffiti removal after receiving 2,330 public reports, reports Breaking News.
Out of those, 923 incidents were marked as “offensive, political [or] racist,” according to the council.
They explained that their system does not have a dedicated category for reporting racist or homophobic content, making it difficult to provide detailed numbers for each type.
They said: “Rather, members of the public are asked at time of reporting to indicate if the graffiti is offensive, political [or] racist,” reports Breaking News.
The council follows a policy of removing offensive graffiti within 48 hours, while other non-offensive markings are cleared on a routine schedule.
The council said: “While some of the removal works are carried out by [our] operational staff, external contractors are also regularly and routinely engaged.”
They also stated that removal of graffiti on private property is typically the owner’s responsibility, reports Breaking News.
South Dublin County Council reported spending approximately €171,000 on graffiti clean-up over the last two years, noting a notable increase in 2024.
Of the 475 reports received, 31 were confirmed as either racist or aimed at the LGBTQ community, reports Breaking News.
The council believes the actual number may be higher since not all submissions were properly categorized at the time they were logged.
In 2023, about €65,500 was spent on direct removal, with an additional €5,500 in staff-related expenses.
A new specialist contract for graffiti clean-up was introduced in 2024, pushing total costs for the year to around €100,000, reports Breaking News.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said they spent around €93,000 on clean-up operations across the past two years.
They handled 1,219 reported cases of graffiti, with 27 explicitly involving racist or homophobic content, reports Breaking News.
Fingal County Council incurred the lowest expense of the four, spending just over €60,000 during 2023 and 2024.
This covered 615 separate graffiti cases, with 33 described as racist or homophobic in nature, reports Breaking News.
The council added that they also partner with the Probation Service, which offers a graffiti removal program used by all four Dublin councils to clear graffiti from public areas.
They said: “A list of locations, as reported or identified by council staff or members of the public are provided to the [Probation] Service and are actioned by them for removal. Graffiti on private property that fronts onto a public open space [or the] public road is also included in this service pending the signing of a waiver by the property owner,” reports Breaking News.
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