COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

MOTION NO. 22

MOTION: Councillor E. Ó Broin

The Committee agrees that the Manager should bring forward a report for discussion at the Committee on the growing problem of illegal dumping in the Clondalkin LEA; the report should include the volumes of illegal dumping; the staff resources involved in collecting illegal dumping; the financial cost of illegal dumping; the numbers of fines issued and prosecutions secured; options and ideas for tackling this growing problem in the time ahead.  The number of locations across the Clondalkin LEA in which CCTV has been installed for the purposes of combating illegal dumping, the cost of installing and operating each of these systems, the impact on illegal dumping measured by prosecutions or reductions in level of dumping, any other information that may be appropriate.

REPORT:

The Council's Public Realm staff are assigned on the basis of crews working North and South of the Naas Road.  It is not possible to provide a break down of staff costs, information on the tonnages collected or disposal costs by electoral area.

In 2013, Environmental Services received 1876 complaints in relation to illegal dumping/litter in South Dublin County Council's administrative area.  437 fines were issued in accordance with the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended. 205 cases were referred to the Law Department for prosecution, of which 116 were listed for hearing in 2013.  To date, 25 successful prosecutions have been secured in relation to these cases. In January 2014 a total of 230 complaints were received relating to illegal dumping/litter.  34 fines were issued and 16 cases have been referred for prosecution.  It is not possible to provide a breakdown of these figures by electoral area.

South Dublin County Council currently have 2 Rapid Deployment CCTV cameras available, one of which is currently located in the Clondalkin electoral area.  however, no evidence has been obtained to date to support enforcement action under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended.  The Council is working with the CCTV contractor in identifying locations that are most suitable for these cameras and are most likely to yield results from an enforcement perspective.

These cameras were purchased by the Council at a cost of €15,000 each.