Increase in painted traffic boxes ‘could help tackle graffiti across Dublin’
Painted traffic boxes have been a “good deterrent” to graffiti in Fingal, local councillors have claimed.
This year, Fingal County Council (FCC) worked with the public initiative Dublin Canvas to add colourful designs to two traffic boxes in Clonsilla Road and Blanchardstown.
At a local area meeting, FCC said applications for more boxes next year and repainting existing ones will commence in April.
Sinn Féin councillor for Ongar, Angela Donnelly, asked for more traffic boxes to be painted, while raising a motion asking the council for a report on art work being planned in the area.
“I’ve only seen two new traffic boxes, it would be brilliant to see more of them next year,” she said.
“People get a lot of joy from these boxes – I’ve heard from a lot of people that liked and commented on them and said how much they appreciated the art.
“I’d love to see us outsource this to more community groups and have our own art department do them.”
Another Sinn Féin councillor for the Blanchardstown area, Breda Hanaphy, said the traffic boxes had helped clear graffiti.
“We have so many more boxes in these areas, it would be great to see them painted. It would help keep graffiti off them as well – we could help clear it,” she said.
John Walsh, Labour councillor for Casteknock, said people in areas like Carpenterstown were growing concerned about graffiti in their locality.
“Dublin Canvas do fantastic, very attractive work. I would like to see them rolled out more heavily, particularly because they are a good deterrent to graffiti,” he said.
“I haven’t seen any in of the artwork in Carpenterstown. I’ve been approached by residents who were concerned about the level of graffiti on those boxes.”
Councillors also asked for the local communities to be included in the plans for new traffic boxes.
FCC said that Dublin Canvas boxes are painted by local artists for a period of 3 years. Boxes painted in 2023 will be reviewed for a repaint next year.
“We’re hoping to return to the Fingal area next year and paint more traffic signal boxes,” said David Murtagh, Project Coordinator for Dublin Canvas.
“We’ve seen phenomenal growth in the Fingal area, more and more traffic junctions have been added and upgraded.
“It would be great to expand on the wonderful work completed within the last six years.”