COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, January 12, 2009

MOTION NO. 13

MOTION: Councillor C. Jones

That this council seeks a high profile and well resourced hotline that will be dedicated for the reporting of littering offences.

REPORT:

The EPA currently operates a nationwide illegal dumping hotline.  The “Dump the Dumpers” service is designed to encourage reporting of illegal dumping of waste or of abandoned illegal dumps via a 24 hour call save telephone number - 1850 365 121.  This information is followed up and checked by the enforcement authorities - local authorities, the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement and the Gardaí - through the Environmental Enforcement Network.  The “Dump the Dumpers” phone line is staffed on a 24-hour basis so callers get to speak to a trained operator who elicits all necessary details to enable the matter to be investigated. While information can be provided anonymously, callers are encouraged to leave contact details so that clarification can be sought if necessary and so that feedback can be provided to the caller if requested.  Serious incidents of illegal dumping are reported immediately to the Gardaí and the relevant local authority so that activities can be investigated as appropriate. 

All other reports of litter offences should be made through the Council's existing customer contact systems.   This system enables tracking of all issues and ensure that matters are followed up and resolved.  This is the most effective means of managing issues in the county.  In addition to calls that may be made to the EPA South Dublin County Council dealt with 165,805 issues through the Customer Contact System in 2008 - of those 7,179 related to litter and dumping.  It is not proposed to introduce a hotline as this mechanism has proved very effective in enabling reporting