Call to scrap giant signs at State building sites that cost €5,000 a go
MILLIONS of euro of taxpayers' money is being wasted on signs erected on construction sites throughout Ireland, according to a Dublin city councillor.
The official signs, which advertise projects being carried out under the National Development Plan, are costing up to €5,000 each.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey has called for an end to the "wasteful" practice. He was angered when he first discovered that a single sign at the entrance to an affordable housing development at Beech Hill in Donnybrook in Dublin cost €4,994 to erect.
Residents in the area had complained that the sign blocked sunlight reaching their homes. Cllr Lacey questioned whether the sign was justified given the current recession.
"Going around the area I have seen about 20 of them. That comes to a total cost of €100,000 and I think that is crazy and a complete waste of money, especially in the current economic climate," he said.
Cllr Lacey told the Herald he would contact Labour councillors throughout Ireland to join in a campaign to abolish the signage requirements.
Councillors at Dublin City Council South East area committee meeting passed a motion tabled by Cllr Lacey to write to the Environment Minister John Gormley to ask him to abandon the practice.
Council officials confirmed that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government requires that any development that receives funding from the State has this type of sign erected throughout the development period.
aokeeffe@herald.ie
- Alan O'Keeffe
