COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 08, 2019

QUESTION NO. 11

QUESTION: Councillor D. Looney

To ask the Chief Executive how many litter wardens are employed by SDCC, how this compares with historical rates of litter wardens in our Council, what supports are provided for these wardens from other staff resources, if SDCC has asked for funding for more wardens, if there are plans to hire more wardens, and to make a statement on the matter. 

REPLY:

There are five full time Litter Wardens currently employed by South Dublin County Council. Since 2009 the full compliment of Litter Wardens is six. Temporary cover is provided by the existing Wardens in respect of short term absences due to annual or other leave.

All incidents of litter, illegal dumping, unauthorised signage and abandoned vehicles reported or detected in any area are investigated by the Council's Litter Warden Service and all dumped material is searched for evidence. Where evidence is found, the appropriate enforcement action is taken under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended. Increasingly, it is found that no personal information relating to polluters is contained within the dumped material, with personal information having been removed or shredded.

Administrative support for the Litter Warden Service is provided by 5.6 WTE staff within the Enforcement and Licencing Section. Support is also provided by the Council's Law Department in respect of prosecutions.

Provision has been made in the adopted 2019 budget for expenditure of €802,900 on the Litter Warden Service.

In 2018 5560 incidents reported or detected were investigated. To date (26th March) in 2019 there have been 1228.

As part of the Council's commitment to deliver on the objectives of the Corporate Plan 2014-2019 and Litter Management Plan 2015-2019, there has been an increased targeted focus on known litter generator areas. Similarly, there has been a raised visibility of our Warden Service through branded vehicles, and a number of structured routes have been identified for continuous patrol, as well as ad hoc patrols and investigations as required.

As always, the Council is grateful for assistance and support from local residents or others in their investigations of such incidents as they arise. In the absence of substantive evidence/witness statements and the presence of such witnesses in court it is not possible for us to bring successful prosecutions