diff --git a/src/core/util.c b/src/core/util.c
index 4d9d8acb3..b6f31b186 100644
--- a/src/core/util.c
+++ b/src/core/util.c
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ meta_topic_real_valist (MetaDebugTopic topic,
 #endif
 
 static gint verbose_topics = 0;
-static gboolean is_debugging = FALSE;
 static gboolean replace_current = FALSE;
 static int no_prefix = 0;
 static gboolean is_wayland_compositor = FALSE;
@@ -164,23 +163,6 @@ meta_remove_verbose_topic (MetaDebugTopic topic)
     verbose_topics &= ~topic;
 }
 
-gboolean
-meta_is_debugging (void)
-{
-  return is_debugging;
-}
-
-void
-meta_set_debugging (gboolean setting)
-{
-#ifdef WITH_VERBOSE_MODE
-  if (setting)
-    ensure_logfile ();
-#endif
-
-  is_debugging = setting;
-}
-
 gboolean
 meta_get_replace_current_wm (void)
 {
diff --git a/src/meta/util.h b/src/meta/util.h
index 77a075a7a..6d06ea572 100644
--- a/src/meta/util.h
+++ b/src/meta/util.h
@@ -32,9 +32,6 @@
 META_EXPORT
 gboolean meta_is_verbose  (void);
 
-META_EXPORT
-gboolean meta_is_debugging (void);
-
 META_EXPORT
 gboolean meta_is_syncing (void);