COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 14, 2019

QUESTION NO.2

QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey

To ask the Chief Executive to outline how members of the public can contact SDCC to remove dangerous items left in public spaces such as discarded syringe or other similar objects in a timely and safe manner. Can this information be included onto the council website? Does the council get many calls about this and would council staff come across such paraphernalia regularly? And would the Chief Executive care to make a statement on the matter?

REPLY:

A member of the public who encounters discarded syringes in a public place should notify the Council immediately of the matter and give details of the exact location involved, and this can be done on the Council's main phone number at any time of the day or night.   

Staff in Public Realm have been trained in needle stick awareness training, this is also covered in the Public Realm Risk Assessments RA 0001/2/3 which deals with:

*  Contact with Needle Sticks

*  Needle Stick Injuries

*  Disposing of Needle Sticks

Administrative staff are advised that, when a report comes in which specifies that there are syringes or drug paraphernalia present in a public park, open space or council facility, these calls are logged on the Customer Care System (for record) and referred immediately to Public Realm operations. In turn the relevant Superintendent arranges a crew to attend immediately on site to remove the reported items.

If syringes or drug paraphernalia are discovered on public grounds by our Litter Warden Service during patrol or bag searches they contact the relevant Public Realm Superintendent immediately and request the removal of same.  The Litter Warden remains on site until Public Realm attends to remove the material. 

The Council advises the public as follows:

Property owners are responsible for the maintenance and management of private property, while the Council is responsible for the management and maintenance of public property.   However, in the interest of public safety the Council will examine reports of paraphernalia / discarded syringes etc on private property on a case by case basis.

If any member of the public comes in contact with waste where syringes or drug paraphernalia are present, they should immediately call County Hall, Customer Care on 01/4149000, through which the call is logged (for record) and referred directly to our Public Realm Unit.

Members of the general public are advised not to  make any direct contact with this paraphernalia.