Graffiti Control: Dublin City Council spends over €1 million a year on cleaning up graffiti, but now it hopes to control the problem by designated spaces where graffiti artists can do their work. Ali Bracken reports

Removing graffiti from public and private property around Dublin costs the taxpayer in excess of €1 million annually. And the capital isn't the only place that has a graffiti problem with a sizable price tag.

But, in a forward-thinking move, Dublin City Council has come up with a novel way to deal with the escalating graffiti.

Following consultation with graffiti artists, the council is on the cusp of establishing five designated graffiti spots around Dublin in a bid to reduce the scrawl from the streets of the capital.

"The plan has always been to eradicate graffiti. But, of course, we have to be realistic too," says Martin Daly, the man in charge of graffiti removal at Dublin City Council.

"I've read international reports that suggest there's been a 90 per cent reduction in illegal graffiti in places that provide specific areas. That's exactly why we need to look at this as an alternative. It could save the taxpayer a lot of money."

There are 14 people who work full-time removing graffiti around Dublin . For spraying graffiti illegally, you can receive a fine of up to €5,000 and a custodial sentence.

It's not easy to get rid of. Daly and his crew spray powerful chemicals which remove it without damaging the surface underneath.

But it seems that, despite the serious consequences for those caught red-handed, people seem more willing than ever to take the risk.

"There's been a large escalation of graffiti in the past five years. But we'll keep putting the resources into it to stop it spreading out of control. Now we're ready to work with the graffiti artists," says Daly. "Psychological reports suggest that people associate criminality with graffiti. That's not an image we want for Dublin."

Darrin Finnegan (34), an artist from Drogheda, Co Louth, has been involved in the graffiti scene for almost 20 years and has had "numerous brushes with the law" as a result. While he's never had to spend time behind bars, he's had to fork out hefty fines following some of his artistic exploits.

"When you're young, it's great to be a bad boy. But you have to grow out of that eventually and I'm glad I did before I got into serious trouble. I've got two kids now. Eventually, your priorities have to change. Now, I'm just focused on doing legal stuff."

Finnegan's been meeting with Daly to discuss the prospect of establishing designated graffiti spots: "We're both optimistic and enthusiastic about it. You'll always have young mavericks who'll do whatever they want, but I think this idea can work well despite that.

"It'll certainly make Martin's job much easier. It's about giving young kids a chance to make a choice about where they want to paint. It's about an option for kids who are passionate about painting."

Finnegan has been commissioned to paint murals all over the country with his crew, TDA Clan. He's worked with Coca-Cola, RTÉ, Nike and Reebok, as well as constructing murals at various festivals in Ireland and further afield. "Without a doubt, graffiti is now big business all over the world. People are wise to its marketability. It's part of street culture and businesses have bought into it big time," Finnegan says.

While many people have a staunchly negative opinion of graffiti, Finnegan says there are many positive elements that are routinely overlooked.

He has been involved for years with teaching youth groups how to paint and recently helped organise the construction of a mural on the Shankill Road in Belfast.

"That brought together Catholics from the South and Protestants from the North. Otherwise they would never have met. It was meant to bring together people who might otherwise never meet, and it did.

"For me, that's a very powerful voice. We don't just paint whatever we feel like either; we create a mural that's relevant to the area."

For the past 14 years, Finnegan's been involved with an annual graffiti event in Drogheda where artists are allowed to create murals and graffiti art under a local bridge.

"A lot of the stuff put up is political. We'll comment on issues that are relevant at that moment. Last year, there were a lot of anti-war pieces that followed from the Make Poverty History campaign."

Daly, too, has noticed this element. Whenever there's a period of political or social unrest, he finds that graffiti crops up all the more.

He's seen many talented pieces of artwork that he's had to remove but wonders "if it's that good, why don't they go and do it on their own parents' house?"

When something like the Reclaim the Streets march happens in Dublin, Daly continues, their working hours go into overdrive in order to keep the situation in check.

"We aim to get pieces down as quickly as possible because, if it can't be shown off, the person is less likely to try and repeat it."

But Finnegan says this is irrelevant. "People take pictures of their work nowadays and it's up on the internet in moments and the whole world can see it, so it doesn't matter when it's removed."