COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, September 09, 2019
QUESTION NO. 37
QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor
To ask the Chief Executive to report on his continued efforts to deal with the dumping/litter/graffiti challenge throughout this County and will he confirm the costs to this Council this year in respect of the matter and also state the number of successful prosecutions and may we have a statement.
REPLY:
Dumping, Litter and Graffiti is managed in accordance with the provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 as amended, Annual Action Plans developed as part of the Litter Management Plan (LMP) 2014-2019.
A review of the Litter Management Plan 2015-2019 is underway for the purposes of drafting a revised statutory plan for the period 2020-2024 for consideration.
There is a three strand approach to managing these issues under the existing plan as follows:
- Enforcement & Licensing
- Management and maintenance of the public realm
- Communication, education and awareness
Initiatives ongoing in 2019 include but are not limited to the following:
- Planned / Scheduled public realm works including scheduled and reactive clean-ups
- Village cleansing
- Road sweeping
- Litter Bin provision and replacement
- Anti-Dumping Grant applications to DCCAE via WERLA
- Education and awareness programmes
- Dog Foul campaigns - cinema and radio advertisements / dog foul bags / green dog walker promo
- Social Credits Scheme - Landscaping projects / community clean-ups supports / Small Paint Schemes
- Dublin Canvas
- Graffiti removal
- Litter Warden Patrols - Fixed Penalty Notices
- Use of CCTV/ emerging technologies
All these measures are aimed at improving the aesthetic appearance of our county in the interest of improving quality of life and our economic development potential.
Significant improvements have been achieved in this area which have been reflected in IBAL and Tidy Towns reports, and once again the Council is very appreciative of the community and voluntary efforts that are made alongside the Council’s work to bring about these positive changes.
The cost of removing and disposing of illegally dumped material throughout the county to date in 2019 is approximately €810,000
All incidents of illegal dumping 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. 279 Litter Fines were issued up to the end of July.
To date in 2019 14 cases have been heard in Court; 12 of which were successful. Currently, there are an additional 36 cases listed for hearing.
As part of the Council's commitment to deliver on the objectives of the Corporate Plan and Litter Management Plan, 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.