A €10m deal to erect 60 billboards? Only in Dun Laoghaire

Sunday, 1 February 2009

A €10m deal to erect 60 billboards? Only in Dun Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has awarded a 10-year, €10m
contract to a company for the rights to erect just 60 advertising
billboards.

A councillor has urged that officials carefully assess the value of
the contract with leading outdoor media company, Clear Channel
Ireland.

The awarding of the contract comes in the wake of a highly
controversial deal struck by Dublin City Council with a French
advertising company, JC Decaux, whereby €1m a year will be paid for 15
years in exchange for 450 bicycles.

After much public and political pressure about the lack of
transparency surrounding the 'billboards for bikes' deal, Dublin City
Council recently relented and agreed to allow an independent audit
committee to examine the contract.

Citing the controversy, Green Party council­lor Gene Feighery has
called on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to ensure the Clear Channel deal
would represent value for money.

"Of course I would love €10m but I really have to balance the carrot
that is being dangled with whether or not it is going have a positive
impact on the area and where the money is going to go and whether it
is index-linked," she said.

"This is a €10m deal now but if the recession ends and advertising
space is at a major premium I would want more for the spaces... I want
to read the small print on this and I don't want to end up in a
situation that Dublin City Council ended up in."

At a Dún Laoghaire area committee meeting last week, council
management also showed local representatives the proposed locations
for the 2.7 sq m standalone billboards.

But Feighery questioned whether the location of several of the advert
boards would be appropriate, considering some would be situated in
conservation areas.

"Dalkey is an architectural conservation area and (there) are
proposals to place two there. They would be adjacent to protected
structures in Dún Laoghaire and on Marine Road and we have to assess
the cumulative effect and the obstruction they would cause. I would
prefer to see trees being planted and although I know there is no
revenue in trees, we really have to wonder whether we are defacing our
town for the sake of a few pieces of silver."

In a report to councillors, Richard Shakespeare, senior executive
officer of the culture, community and amenities department, said
council management had also entered into talks with another company
regarding the provision of larger metropole billboards.

In addition, the report noted the legal work on the Clear Channel deal
was "nearing completion" and it added that the matter would be
presented to councillors at the next full council meeting on Monday 9
February.

Sunday Tribune