COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

QUESTION NO. 12

QUESTION: Councillor M. Ward

"To ask the Chief Executive to provide a report on the amount of burnt out cars removed from the Clondalkin LEA and the cost of this to the Council?"

REPLY: 

Cars that are abandoned (which display identification marks) are managed under Section 71 of the Waste Management Act 1996 as amended, which provides inter alia for the following:

1) Investigation of vehicle reported

2) Ownership checks & enquires

3) Communications with the owners (where known)

4) Removal and taking ownership of abandoned vehicles.

It can take up to 6 weeks to complete the above procedure depending on its complexity and level of co-operation from other relevant bodies. 

In the case of burnt out vehicles, contact is made with An Garda Síochána to establish if the vehicles are "of interest" or require a Garda investigation.  Generally, burnt out cars on public grounds causing risk to public safety are removed as soon as possible

It should be noted that some complaints of "abandoned" cars are solely traffic matters and these are referred directly to the Gardai.  Similarly, other reports relate to nuisance issues are not in fact abandoned, such as:

• vehicles poorly parked
• vehicles causing an obstruction
• vehicles involved in residential parking disputes
• Broken down vehicles
• Untaxed and uninsured vehicles

The inspection of the abandoned vehicle by the Council's Warden Service informs the procedure applied by the Council for the removal of the vehicle.

The total cost for removal for the period (January - February) is €1, 498.20

The Litter Warden Services are not assigned to electoral areas, so  it is not possible to provide a figure for the number of burnt out/abandoned cars specifically in the Clondalkin Electoral area.   

The table below outlines the number of vehicles reported/and outcomes of how abandoned/burnt out vehicles have been dealt with for the period January - March 2018.

January - March 2018	Abandoned Vehicles	Burnt out Vehicles
Total Reported	292	42
Outcome
Removed by authorised Contractor	15	23
Removed by owner/unknown	154*	19
Parking issues	59
Still in progress	64

*It is possible that some burnt out or abandoned cars are removed by An Garda Síochaná.