A €3.75 million fund to tackle graffiti around the country was announced by the Government today.
Local groups, including tidy towns groups, with at least three years' experience of working on environmental and community safety issues, may apply for an allocation from the 2008 budget.
The national initiative follows a successful pilot project by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
It will be managed by the not-for-profit company Pobal, which manages such programmes on behalf of the Government and the EU.
Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said: "Graffiti is, at best, an irritant and at worst outright vandalism. Regrettably, it is prevalent in many of our public spaces.
“This scheme is structured in such a way that it will facilitate communities taking the broadest approach to tackling graffiti in their area in the way they feel will work best.”
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said the appearance of a community is “a key feature in encouraging social and economic activity and in identifying it as a desirable place to live, work and do business in”.