COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (1)

Monday, January 17, 2011

QUESTION NO. 1

QUESTION: Councillor P. Kearns

"To ask the Manager what additional measures he intends to take in relation to cleaning up the extensive litter that seems to have accumulated as a result of the recent snow and the disruption to bin collections?"

REPLY:

The bad weather experienced during the first two weeks in December and the week commencing December 20th brought about a loss of approximately three weeks in the road sweeping programme as well as in the cleaning rosters operated by the Council's cleansing section.  The problems arising from this period, during which it was not possible to maintain a cleansing service in the County, were compounded by the closure for the Christmas holiday from December 24th to January 4th.  Cleansing and road sweeping services were affected on a total of four weeks from the five week period from November 29th to January 4th.

The road sweeping contractor is currently examining how the time lost on the contract schedule during November and December can be made up and he is due to make a proposal in this regard in the coming days.  He currently has additional sweeping resources in place to deal with the 10 housing estate routes which were missed in December, though most of these areas are outside Tallaght.  Unfortunately the winter leaf removal programme was not completed in 2010 and a portion of this has carried over into the new year also.  There was also slippage on the quarterly sweeping of motorways and dual carriageways, as a large part of this was due to take place in the month of December.  The contractor's proposal will be required to address all of the above-mentioned problem areas.  In addition to this the Roads Dept has submitted a list of main roads which are still affected by grit which was spread during the bad weather and they have asked that this be removed as a matter of urgency due to the potential saftey hazard it poses to road users.

As previously reported the cleansing section is operating on reduced staff numbers due to unfilled staff vacancies and transfers on a daily basis to the refuse collection section.  Nevertheless the section has now responded to a large number of clean-up tasks referred to it by the litter wardens, as has the Parks Dept.  It is proposed that 2 large road sweepers will be hired by the section to assist with the clean up effort over the next 2 to 4 weeks.  This equipment will also be able to deal with the issue of grit on main roads and where it was spread on footpaths in the town and village centres.  The cleansing supervisers are currently examining litter bin locations around the County to determine where littering and dumping at litter bins has taken place, and such locations are being listed for cleaning as a matter of urgency.

The litter wardens are providing daily lists of areas requiring attention to both the Cleansing Section and Parks Dept.  The wardens have been asked to complete their inspections of the County at the earliest possible date.  They have also been asked to call on whatever additional resources might be available, such as from active residents associations, to assist with the clean up effort.  Any assistance that can be offered in this regard by the elected members would be most welcome also.