COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TERENURE/RATHFARNHAM AREA COMMITTEE (2)

Tuesday, October 9th 2007

QUESTION NO. 11

QUESTION: Councillor J. Lahart

"To ask the Manager to outline how many traders, including their names, have been issued with fines in Rathfarnham Village in 2007?"

REPLY:

Rathfarnham Village, along with all other town and village centres in the County, is cleaned six days out of seven each week. Cleaning is carried out on Monday to Friday, on Sunday and on bank holiday Mondays. No cleaning is carried out on Saturday at present. Cleaning is carried out using either a pavement sweeper or a handcart. In addition to the cleaning mentioned the litter bins are also emptied on the same days of the week. There are no plans at present to extend this to a seven day service.

Under the Litter Pollution Act 1997 (Section 6 & 16) the owner or occupier of a premises is obliged to keep that premises free from litter and to take any measures that are necessary to prevent or limit the creation of litter at the premises and to arrange for the removal of that litter from the premises of its vicinity. Section 6(4) f the Act places the responsibility on the occupier of a premises to keep the adjoining footpath free from litter. Section 16(1) of the Act states that any premises which creates litter in carrying out its business is responsible for the prevention of that litter and the collection and disposal of that litter in the 'vicinity' of the premises. Section 16(10) of the Act states that for this purpose the 'vicinity' of the premises is an area within a reasonable distance from the premises but not exceeding 100 metres.

The Council's six Litter Wardens enforce the relevant sections of the Act when they find that such a course of action is open to them. However a difficulty can arise in proving a connection between litter on the street and its place of origin. If this connection cannot be established then the Warden will not proceed with a fine, as it may be necessary to prove such a link in court at a later date. Section 16 of the Act which gives powers to deal with the generator of litter, includes a notice procedure which obliges the Litter Warden to serve notice on the occupier of a premises to clean up, install litter bins or carry out some other measures to prevent or dispose of litter. The Warden can only issue a fine if such a notice has not been complied with after a specified time period. As a result of this the number of fines issued in the Rathfarnham Village area is quite low, as most owners/ occupiers of commercial premises will comply with such notices.