Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his public-spirited involvement in this issue. I am standing in for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche. I am pleased to have the opportunity to outline the position on this issue. Graffiti is still a problem in and a blight on our society and our urban landscape. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support this view.

Under the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2003, primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to the defacement of structures by writing or other marks lies with local authorities. However, conscious of the problem of graffiti vandalism, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs initiated a pilot project, the graffiti removal operation, GRO, initiative, aimed specifically at combating graffiti in Dublin city, Galway city and Bray, County Wicklow. This project is separate from, and in addition to, the graffiti abatement programmes carried out on an ongoing basis by the local authorities.

The GRO initiative involves a major initial clean up of the worst affected sites in the pilot areas, followed by a rapid response cleaning maintenance programme aimed at maintaining sites free of graffiti. To date all sites in RAPID areas have been addressed and significant cleaning works have already been completed. Work has already been completed, or is in progress, in 19 separate locations in the Dublin City Council, Bray Town Council and Galway City Council areas. Sites affected by graffiti outside RAPID areas are being surveyed with a view to extending the GRO initiative. The pilot project is overseen by a steering group comprising representatives from the three Departments and an independent evaluation of the programme has been commissioned in order to determine the programme's effectiveness. Should the programme prove successful in eliminating or significantly reducing the incidence of graffiti, consideration will be given to extending it to other areas.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is satisfied that there are adequate powers under the Litter Pollution Acts to tackle the problem of defacement of property. Section 19 makes it an offence to deface property and section 20 is a complementary provision which enables local authorities to have remedial action taken. In addition to the Litter Pollution Acts, the Criminal Damage Act 1991 provides for the offences of damaging or defacing property. The Garda authorities take very seriously the damaging or defacing of property. The Garda has operations Encounter and Assist in place, focusing on tackling anti-social behaviour including offences of criminal damage, such as defacing property or the imposition of graffiti. When the Garda detects such offences, culprits are processed through the courts or via the juvenile liaison system, as appropriate.

On deterring young people from criminal behaviour, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform funds Garda youth diversion projects. These projects are community-based, multi-agency initiatives that aim to divert young people from becoming involved in anti-social and-or criminal behaviour by providing suitable activities to facilitate personal development, promote civic responsibility and challenge offending behaviour. The number of such projects has grown from 12 in 1997 to 64 at present, catering for approximately 2,500 persons per annum.

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