Dublin City Council has defended its policy on mural art, which has included prosecutions for unauthorised works.
It comes as a new mural of Grace O'Malley goes up without permission as a result of commercial sponsorship.
The 18m by 12m mural of Grace O'Malley on Aungier St was painted by Kathrina Rupit, who is originally from Mexico.
She says it is a modern interpretation of the medieval figure, with a pen and book as weapons instead of the sword.
The work was organised by Subset, an art collective who have been previously prosecuted by the city council for unauthorised murals of David Attenborough in Portobello and another in Smithfield, entitled Horseboy.
A member of Subset who did not want to be identified read out a prepared statement beside The Grace mural which included the lines "to anyone struggling with fear, worry, stress, anxiety, panic, addiction - shout out to you. Every day that you struggle means you're still fighting. Fighting a good fight, for a good cause. Yourself. We’re the fighting Irish for a reason, believe that".
It is understood that Subset paid the owners of the wall on Aungier St for its use. The company Grace O'Malley Whiskey provided sponsorship to the artists involved.
Brand Manager of Grace O'Malley Whiskey, Heather Clancy, admitted that the mural was unauthorised but argued it was a risk worth taking to help the arts world, which had a rough time over the past couple of years.
"We wanted to go against the grain and do something Grace O'Malley would do," she said.
In a statement Dublin City Council said that murals require planning permission, but it had worked with street artists, including Subset, to facilitate such installations in the past.
It pointed out that it had granted 35 such planning applications last year and currently authorised murals can be seen at Stoney Road in Fairview as well as City Quay and Pearse St in the city centre.
There are legal walls in Finglas and a project involving ten artists in Grangegorman.
Subset also painted an officially sanctioned mural on the ESB building in Temple Bar in December 2019.
Martin Harte of Temple Bar Company, who has worked with street artists, said regulation is needed, especially when murals are covering entire buildings which can be listed and where commercial sponsorship is involved.
A prosecution against Subset by Dublin City Council is due to go ahead in the District Court in June.
