The maker of 'Drawing The Line', Yolanda Barker, a 24year-old from Limerick, became interested in the underground afterform after seeing 'tags' . . . spraypainted nicknames by graffiti artists . . . around the country. "Then I went to Barcelona and that was the first time I was introduced to the artistic side of graffiti, " she told the Sunday Tribune. "I became interested in it not only because of the art, but because it expressed something I didn't necessarily understand."

Upon returning to Ireland, Barker began to track down some of the country's graffiti artists to gauge the size of the scene here.

"The level of art the guys were doing was extremely high, " she said.

Eventually, her interest brought her to Drogheda where 'jams' . . . group graffiti gatherings . . . have been running for the last 15 years . . . of late mainly on the town's Bridge of Peace . . . becoming one of the most famous jams in the world.

"The reason most people see it as vandalism is because they don't know about the artistic side of it, " Barker insists.

Darrin Finnegan, one of the artists featured in the documentary, has been part of the jam at the Bridge of Peace for years since first getting into graffiti art 20 years ago.

"I basically picked up on it from TV in the early '80s, " he told the Sunday Tribune.

"When breakdancing and hip hop culture came over here when I was a young man, I just got into it, and I've stuck with it for 20 years."

Apart from his work in Drogheda, Finnegan . . . along with three other artists known collectively as DBA Klann . . . has worked throughout Ireland and abroad, including projects at the Oxegen and Electric Picnic music festivals.

DBA Klann also worked on a mural for RTE shown in the opening credits of the channel's World Cup coverage.

"The most important thing for people who don't understand it is for them to look at the film as it will give them an appreciation of the planning and work that goes into it, " Finnegan said.

"Some elements of graffiti can be described as vandalism, but we're doing things with a lot of thought and effort. That's the whole point of it in Drogheda. It's probably one of the most valid artforms for young people. A lot of art galleries are elitist.

Spray-can art is very open and accessible, anybody can pick it up."

The graffiti scene in Ireland is still relatively small, due not only to the size of the population but also to a lack of communication between artists.

"In other cities, people would have done a lot of artwork on trains, which then kind of acts as a form of communication between other artists in other areas of the city.

"In Ireland, we don't really have a good target system like that, " Barker said.

Finnegan is currently working with Dublin City Council on initiatives to provide spaces for legal graffiti.

"The kids who are doing it aren't bad kids, " he said.

"They just want to paint."

'Drawing The Line' premieres on 26 October at the Cultivate Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin at 7pm. Tickets cost /10 and include entry to the afterparty and Banksy exhibition at 4 Dame Lane