COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, January 10, 2022

QUESTION NO.1

QUESTION: Councillor Yvonne Collins

To ask the Chief Executive for details of the further dumping blackspot treatment and monitoring proposed under the Anti-Dumping initiative and how the use of cctv footage will feature in same.

REPLY: 

The Anti-Dumping Initiative (ADI)  was first introduced by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in 2017 and is administered by the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authority (WERLA) on behalf of the Eastern-Midland Region.

South Dublin County Council has successfully won funding, by submitting schemes and projects which meet the qualifying criteria, including the purchase of equipment to aid the inspection of areas where illegal dumping is known to take place and to assist in identification of those responsible for same.

South Dublin County Council continues to carry out CCTV monitoring of dumping blackspots and has cases against several individuals listed in the courts for January 2022. It is hoped that successful prosecutions may deter others from committing dumping offences.

Public lighting has been installed during 2021 under the Anti-Dumping Initiative Programme in a notorious blackspot as a deterrent to people dumping there at night and to increase the quality of any CCTV images we obtain in the future. Installation of covert CCTV during the months following the installation of the public lighting lead to a cessation of dumping activities.

In 2021 the council continued the Mattress Amnesty Scheme and we had a record year with 938 mattresses collected. We also trialled a pilot ‘Bulky Waste collection’ service with Recycle IT, Clondalkin. Both of these initiatives were specifically targeted to reduce the potential for the waste to end up in Halloween bonfires.

In the past 3 years, due to funding received under the ADI, South Dublin County Council has successfully removed over 26 tonnes of waste material from blackspots, diverted over 28 tonnes of waste and 2,849 mattresses from potentially being dumped as well as issued over 50 fixed penalty notices and brought 22 legal cases against those who have sought to dump material illegally.

The 2022 ADI schemes are being prepared for submission to the WERLA in April and will again focus on the National Waste Enforcement Priorities and adhere to the key measures of prevention, abatement, education & awareness and enforcement. At present we are continuing to identify areas where CCTV can be installed in 2022, either by the Council or in conjunction with the Pure Project, to gather evidence for legal proceedings against those involved in illegal dumping. As and when areas of dumping are identified they will be inspected to see if they are suitable to be included on a schedule for CCTV monitoring.