A MULTI-MILLION euro initiative to clean up Dublin city centre has been unveiled.
Businesses in the capital have set up a partnership to launch supplementary environmental services such as daily power-hosing of streets, chewing gum and graffiti removal, street landscaping and more frequent litter collections.
The Dublin city centre Business Improvement District (BID), the organisation which will run the additional services, said its aim was to make the city a more attractive place for tourists and for people to do business in.
It said it plans to invest €15 million over the next five years to make the capital "cleaner, greener and safer".
Almost €1 million will be spent annually in the provision of additional cleaning services beyond those provided by Dublin City Council. The initiative includes a one-hour clean-up guarantee whereby a so-called "rapid reaction force" will be used to clean-up rubbish on the capital's streets.
Similar schemes run in parts of North America and have been credited with significant improvements to areas such as Times Square in New York.
"The downtown areas of big cities like Washington and Philadelphia, which had become seedy, no-go areas, have all been rejuvenated through BID schemes. They have had a dramatic impact in terms of sanitation, crime and trading, and as a result people have flocked back to the city centres," said Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin city centre BID.
Department of the Environment legislation which came into force recently allows for the establishment of the initiative. It allows for the sourcing of extra money from local traders, who will then benefit from improvements to their local area.
According to Mr Guiney, 5 per cent of the sum firms pay as part of their rates can be used as a contribution to the initiative and companies can get a tax write-off on the cost. "It's not a huge amount of money for individual firms, but taken together it is a significant sum that can be used to clean up the streets."
The BID said it has already introduced full-time "street ambassadors" to the city to monitor cleanliness, identify security issues and assist the public to create a more welcoming environment.
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