Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has defended the establishment of a gum litter task force (GLT) campaign for the "responsible disposal" of chewing gum.
However the Dublin City Business Association has opposed the initiative. It said the campaign would do little to help businesses having to remove chewing gum from their premises.
It said in a statement that the taskforce should give €500,000 towards the cost of cleaning for at least the next three years.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign yesterday, Mr Roche said: "The campaign is aimed at trying to change people's attitudes, not trying to stop people chewing gum or stop them buying gum, but trying to get people to behave responsibly."
Paul Kelly, of the food and drink industry division of the employers' body Ibec and chairman of the taskforce, said he felt the campaign was a better solution because it worked towards "addressing the root cause of the problem rather than the symptom".
"Only by changing attitudes can we clean up our streets,"
The €2 million campaign is funded by chewing gum manufacturers.
The Departments of the Environment and Education as well as local authorities will be represented on the taskforce involved in the campaign.
Pilot campaigns consisting of billboards and in-store advertisements promoting proper chewing gum disposal were launched in Cork, Dublin and the Minister's constituency town of Bray yesterday. Similar campaigns will be rolled out in the rest of the country over the next three years depending on the success of the pilot schemes.
The programme also has plans for a €1 million research fund to be awarded to a third-level institution to investigate the structure of chewing gum and work on a "non-sticky" version.
The Minister said if the campaign was found to be unsuccessful the introduction of a 10 per cent tax on chewing gum would be reconsidered.
This measure was recommended in a report published by the Department of the Environment in 2002.
However, he said he was not in favour of introducing the tax as he felt it would do nothing to change attitudes.