Dublin City Council granted only one permit for sandwich board ads last year.
Since new rules were brought in last September, it received just nine applications from businesses to place advertising signs on the street outside their premises.
It means the council has earned just €830 in licence fees from the sandwich board ads.
Over the course of the past four months, 550 officials warnings have been sent out.
In the same time, 149 boards have been seized.
CEO of the Restaurants Association Adrian Cummins has labelled the new rules as draconian and anti-business.
Mr Cummins says some businesses were already struggling to entice customers into their shops before the new regulations were introduced.
He says things could get worse in 2020:
"Business is tough enough in this city at the moment and everybody tells me that in the first quarter of this year you will see casualties - especially in hospitality because of the cost of doing business"
