Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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1780. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if funding can be made available through the environment fund as had previously been done or through other funding sources to local authorities to help clean up graffiti in their area. [28059/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Under the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to litter pollution, including the defacement of structures by writing or other marks, lies with local authorities. 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. As part of the targeted direct response to deal with graffiti, my Department operates an Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme (ALAGS). Under this Scheme, local authorities can apply for funding for projects aimed at raising awareness of litter and graffiti issues. Local authorities are asked to focus their activities under the scheme on young people and, in particular, on schools and community groups with an emphasis on encouraging long term behavioural change. Compared to 2016, I have increased funding for the ALAGS scheme in 2017 by 28% and allocated a total of €884,000 to local authorities. 

While I currently have no proposals to introduce a grant specifically targeted at the clean-up of graffiti, I understand that the Probation Service, under the remit of the Minister for Justice and Equality, operates two graffiti removal projects, based in Dublin and in Cork, as part of its Community Service Scheme.