COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

QUESTION NO. 8

QUESTION: Councillor E. Higgins

"Can a drone pilot be rolled out in order to assess and monitor litter blackspots? Mahon's Lane in Saggart and Baldonnell Road are litter blackspots in areas that are difficult to clean without closing the road, so would make the perfect pilot location."

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council purchased two drones in December 2017, and they have been operated by Waste Enforcement Officers and Litter Wardens since February 2018 for the detection and investigation of illegal dumping and illegal waste management activities across the County to assist in evidence gathering and support verbal and written evidence of offences.

The operation and usage of drones is strictly regulated and controlled by the Irish Aviation Authority. Staff operating the drones have been trained and tested in accordance with IAA guidance and current legislation. Whilst the use of drones by Waste Enforcement Officers and Litter Wardens is an valuable tool, it does have its limitations.  In accordance with IAA restrictions, the drone must be controlled, at all times, by an operator within a distance of 300m of the drone position.  The battery life of the drone is approximately 20 to 25 minutes, which restricts any one drone surveillance operation to a maximum flight duration of approximately 1.5 hours (each drone has 4 batteries).  Due to the current restrictions of the legislation, limitations of the technology and staffing resources, the use of drones to carry out such prolonged surveillance at one location, would have an impact on SDCC's ability to enforce the other aspects of Waste Management Legislation, which SDCC is required to enforce.  Based on the above limitations, the use of drones for continuous monitoring of litter black spots is not possible at this point in time.

All incidents of littering and 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.

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.