COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN/PALMERSTOWN/NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

MOTION NO. 12

MOTION: Councillor P. Gogarty

That the Council allocates emergency resources to deal with a massive upsurge in visible litter and dumped material within the remit of this Area Committee, including cleaning of footpaths and zero tolerance of overflowing bins and bags dumped alongside or at bring centres; to outline whether there is a mechanism to report and prosecute litter louts more effectively, or perhaps a pilot project that could start in Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin; and if a statement can be made on the matter.

REPORT:

All incidents of littering and illegal dumping reported or detected in any area are investigated by the Council's Litter Warden Service. Where evidence is found that identifies the alleged polluter, appropriate action is taken. 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.

Audio devices are in place at several bottle banks as a preventative measure. The devices play programmable messages when the user comes into range. The use of the devices has been successful in reducing levels of dumping and it is intended to extnd their use to other locations in 2021.

The Environmental Awareness Office is currently developing a campaign asking citizens not to leave waste at full or overflowing litter bins. The campaign will be pushed out across all South Dublin County Council social media channels.