Seanad debates
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Graffiti Policy
10:30 am
Kevin Humphreys (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Graffiti is a real problem in cities and towns all over the country. One cannot travel through cities like Dublin, Cork or Galway without seeing the impact of graffiti on the public space. I am calling on the Minister for Justice and Equality to consider reintroducing the anti-graffiti programme that was in place up until 2009. Many people refer to graffiti as a mere irritant but I prefer to refer to it as vandalism or criminal damage.
I met an elderly gentleman last Saturday who was trying to clean the gable end of his house for the third time in three months, at great expense. This gentleman is a pensioner in his early eighties. He explained that he could no longer climb a ladder to remove the graffiti and that no assistance was available to him. The anti-graffiti programme that was in place previously funded the removal of graffiti in public spaces and places that could be seen from public spaces. It supported small business people in removing graffiti from their premises and distributed anti-graffiti kits. The reintroduction of this programme would be a recognition of the many volunteers who clean their own communities week in and week out. While there are many Tidy Towns committees that clean up their communities on a weekly basis, they cannot deal with criminal damage to householders' property. I ask that the Government would consider reintroducing the programme which could be funded in various ways. It could be co-funded by the Departments of Justice and Equality and Communications, Climate Action and Environment, with matching funding from local government. We need a programme because volunteers must be recognised. The financial hardship that householders are suffering when trying to remove graffiti must be acknowledged. People have pride in their homes but are waking up to find the gable end of their houses destroyed by criminal activity. The fact that there is no assistance available to them to remedy the situation is unacceptable.
The Minister of State may have been provided with a stock answer by the Department but I ask him to consider the matter and discuss it with his colleagues and the Department. I ask that some mechanism be provided to assist communities in dealing with the scourge of graffiti which mainly affects urban areas.
Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue.
The community graffiti reduction programme was introduced in February 2008 and was sponsored at that time by the then Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Pobal managed and delivered the programme on behalf of these Departments and a total of approximately €1 million was spent under the first phase of the scheme. Due to the declining state of public finances at the time, the programme was formally brought to an end in the middle of 2009. The programme was separate from, and in addition to, graffiti abatement programmes carried out on an ongoing basis by the local authorities.
As the Senator will no doubt be aware, and as the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has previously advised the Oireachtas, primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to litter pollution, including the defacement of structures by writing or other marks, lies with local authorities under the Litter Pollution Act 1997. The Act provides significant powers to local authorities to deal with these issues, including on-the-spot fines. It is a matter for each local authority to decide on the most appropriate public awareness, enforcement and clean-up actions to deal with graffiti, taking account of local circumstances and competing priorities.
In terms of the justice sector generally, An Garda Síochána has advised that it tasks local community policing units with compiling information which might identify individuals associated with various graffiti incidents. The Criminal Damage Act 1991 is the legal framework utilised by An Garda Síochána to police anti-social behaviour of this nature and alleged offenders are processed in accordance with the provisions of this legislation. The Probation Service, which falls under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality, operates two graffiti removal projects as part of its community service scheme. One project is based in Dublin and the other is in Cork. The Probation Service does not have a dedicated graffiti project budget.
While the Minister for Justice and Equality is supportive of any measures to remove graffiti from our local areas, he regrets to advise the House that his Department has no plans to reintroduce the community graffiti reduction programme. The issue is not a primary function of the Department and while the public finances are clearly in a better position than ten years ago, there are other competing pressing demands on the resources available for allocation by the Department.
I encourage the Senator to approach the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to see if his Department would provide additional funding for a pilot scheme under the aforementioned anti-graffiti awareness grant scheme administered by the local authorities.I understand from where the Senator is coming and the frustration of a lot of people, but it is not just in Dublin that there is an issue with graffiti. There is graffiti across the country, but I understand the Senator's frustration.
Kevin Humphreys (Labour)
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Graffiti is a problem across the country. Mr. Peter Horgan is a local election candidate in Cork. Yesterday he raised the issue of graffiti in Cork. It is what I call criminal damage done to householders. We are all too aware of it in our cities and town. Deputy Kehoe is Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach and I ask him to take one thing from the debate on my Commencement matter. I ask him to reconsider whether we can have a Government-led programme within the Department of the Taoiseach. I ask him to consult the relevant Departments to see whether a programme could be brought forward to alleviate the problem in every city and town. The programme that was in place was discontinued because of the financial crash, but there is now an opportunity for the State to show leadership to the local authorities in reducing the size of the problem. The only thing I ask the Minister of State is to reconsider and talk about the issue within his Department and with the Taoiseach to see if we could have even a small fund of, say, €5 million that would be matched by local government to deal with graffiti. I am not asking him to give me a "Yes" or a "No" answer; rather, I am asking him to reconsider the matter and consult the Taoiseach and revelevant Departments to see if we could take a step towards acknowledging the volunteers who try to clean up their local community. It would be a good day's work if he were to give me an undertaking that he will reconsider the matter to see whether central government could assist local government in tackling the scourge of graffiti.
Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I reiterate that the removal of graffiti is supported by the Minister for Justice and Equality. As I outlined, agencies of the Department of Justice and Equality continue to play a role in tackling the problem. However, primary responsibility for the removal of graffiti lies with other statutory bodies. I understand the Senator's frustration. He mentioned that I should approach the Department of the Taoiseach. I encourage him to go to the Minister responsible for local government and the environment because it is through that Department that the issue should be tackled. The Department of Justice and Equality can prevent the problem of graffiti from happening through An Garda Síochána, but the issue of the removal of graffiti should be pursued through the local authorities. The Senator should, therefore, approach the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, or his Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, who has responsibility for local government to see what can be done to deal with the problem. It is not the statutory function of the Department of Justice and Equality. While clearly the public finances are in a better position than they were ten years ago, I understand there are other competing and pressing demands within the Department of Justice and Equality. I encourage the Senator to raise the matter with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, given that he has statutory responsibiliy for the local authorities. I personally believe the anti-graffiti scheme should be reintroduced but through a different Department. It would be more appropriate, therefore, for the Senator to ask the Minister and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to reintroduce it.