COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 10, 2017

QUESTION NO.15

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask for a report into how much has been made in litter/dumping fines by Council area? And how many prosecutions? 

REPLY:

The Council enforces all provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended,  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.

In cases where payment as demanded in the notice has not been made within the period specified, legal proceedings are initiated against that person.  However, 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 tables outlines the position in relation to fines, revenues and prosecutions for the years 2015 and 2016 for South Dublin Administrative area.   It is not possible to provide details as requested on an electoral area basis.

	2015	2016
No of fines issued	500	434
Value of fines issued	€75,000	€65,100
Total Collected	€39,475	€28,780
Collection rate	53%	44%
Total Court costs awarded	€22,175	€14,075
Total Court costs collected	€7,850	€2,100
Collection rate	35%	15%
No. of prosecutions	68	42
No. of successful prosecutions	44	26

As previously reported, all instances of illegal dumping detected are investigated to establish the presence of incriminating evidence and the level of activity in this area continues.

The following is an outline of complaints received and investigated by the Litter Warden Service for the same period

2015        1980

2016        2790

On a point of note: the Court Service is responsible for collection of Court Costs awarded.