COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, October 24, 2016

QUESTION NO. 19

QUESTION: Councillor D. Richardson

"To ask the Chief Executive to report on litter fines from businesses putting up illegal signage in the Tallaght area, especially Cash for Cars?"

REPLY:

"The Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended, was introduced to provide for the prevention and control of litter pollution and the prevention of the defacement of certain places and matters relating thereto. This Act gives the Council extensive powers to deal with litter and litter offenders and outlines general obligations, offences and enforcement.

The Council enforces the provisions of Section 19 of the Act with regard to all illegal signage and fines are issued where possible. 

All signage erected illegally is subject to enforcement action under the Act and in the event where those responsible fail to remove signs, the Council arranges for removal. 

With regard to repeat offenders, it is the policy of the Council to initiate Direct Prosecution against the alleged offender.

It should be noted that a difficulty arises in identifying the owners of businesses which use website addresses or phone numbers only and therefore enforcement action proves problematic in this regard.

It should be noted however that, in accordance also with the provisions of the Section 19 Litter Pollution Act 1997 as amended, signage is not illegal if placed on private property with the consent of the property owner.  In some high profile areas signage has been erected on private property with the permission of the owner and fines / prosecution cannot be persued in such instances.  

While it is not possible to provide the detail as requested by electoral area, the following is an outline of the litter fines issued countywide under Section 19.1 for companies (Auctioneers not included) :

2014 – 114

2015 – 145

2016 – 45 (until end of September 2016)

People responsible for erecting "Cash for Cars" signs are subject to a litter fine in the amount of €150 each. Fines have been issued in a limited number of cases as regrettably in most of these cases fines cannot be formally served due to the difficulty in tracking the identity of those responsible for erecting such signage.   Attempts at Direct Prosecution have also proved problematic where summons have been returned unserved and therefore cases cannot proceed.

However, very recently, Gardai from the Traffic Division, Dublin Castle took a very successful prosecution against an individual at Blanchardstown Court. This case related to offences contrary to Section 71 of the Roads Act 1993, involving the illegal placing of 87 signs at 28 junctions on dates between May and November 2015.  The perpetrator was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment and fined €200 for each summons, totalling €5,600 in fines.  

This was a very substantial sentence and is very re-assuring in the sense that it shows that the Courts are taking these offences seriously and this now sets a precedent for similar operations going forward.

As a result there has been very little or no posting of new  ‘Cash for Cars’ signs in Tallaght since earlier this year."