COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

QUESTION NO. 7

QUESTION: Councillor B. Bonner

"To ask the Chief Executive in relation to the memorandum of understanding between South Dublin County Council and utility service providers, what is the mechanism for members of the public to respond to issues of litter and graffiti on property owned by utility companies.  Residents have found that using fix your street in relation to these issues has proven ineffective?"

REPLY:

The Council signed Memoranda of Understandings on 22nd September 2015 with four significant utility companies - ESB Networks, Gas Networks Ireland, Eir, and other significant Telco Providers. When a complaint is received via Fix Your Street in respect of litter/graffiti an acknowledgement is issued within two working days.  The Council's Litter Warden then investigates the complaint to ascertain the extent and nature of the complaint and also to verify the ownership of the location in question.  If the area in question is in the ownership of one of the utility companies as listed above a referral is made by the Litter Warden to the Company involved and the query is closed on 'Fix your Street', no longer than 14 working days from date of receipt of the complaint. In the case of case of littering, a response timeframe of five working days is applicable, as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding.  In the case of graffiti, ten working days is applicable (save if the graffiti is of an offensive nature), again as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding.  If these requests are not adhered to, within the timeframes specified, the Council's Litter Warden will initiate enforcement proceedings under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended.

It is unclear where the alleged inefficiencies are with the reporting through FYS. However, if a member of the public prefers, they can, of course, make their complaint via our customer care centre, through the membersnet system, by telephone the Litter Hotline at 4149220 or by calling into the Customer Care Centre in person.