COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 21, 2015

QUESTION NO.8

QUESTION: Councillor J. Lahart

To ask the Chief Executive to report on the revenue in 2014 and to date in 2015 from Litter fines:  to outline how much is outstanding from court fines and when the manager expects these fines to be paid and to ask whether the Chief Executive is satisfied with the response of the Courts Service in collecting fines due to this Council?

REPLY:

The Council enforces all provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended, (the Act) in an effort to prevent and control litter pollution, including issuing a fixed penalty notice (fine) of €150, pursuant to Section 28 of the Act.

Fines which are not paid within the period specified in the Act are referred to the Council's Law Department for prosecution for non-payment. The Court has a number of options at its discretion, including conviction with fine, conviction without fine or dismissal. In addition, the Court may award costs to the Council. The collection of fines applied by the Court is a matter for the Courts Service.

It is not always possible to progress the matter to a court hearing for various reasons but primarily due to:

a) fines sent by registered post being returned as undelivered

b) evidence deemed to be not sufficiently robust to support prosecution.

The following table outlines the position in relation to fines and revenue for the year 2014 and for the period 1st January to 31st July 2015.

	2014	1st Jan to 31st Jul 2015
No of fines issued	625	307
Value of fines issued	€93,750	€46,050
Total Collected	€44,598	€26,615
Collection rate	48%	58%
Total Court costs awarded	€21,150	€16,325
Total Court costs collected	€7,200	€2,550
Collection rate	34%	16%