COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, July 11, 2022
QUESTION NO. 18
QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor
To ask the Chief Executive if he has studied the most recent IBAL report and if it informs his plans to continue to deal effectively with the challenge of Graffiti and Litter in our County and will he make a statement?
REPLY:
South Dublin County Council welcomes the number of top ranked sites in Tallaght in the latest IBAL survey. The council is aware of the two areas that were flagged as litter problem areas. The location at Cheeverstown/ Kilmartin is in council ownership. Our Waste Enforcement team is working with the Public Realm section to see if any potential source of waste accumulation can be identified at this location. The Belgard Square East site is in private ownership and the responsibility for this site lies with the landowner who is being contacted to ensure compliance with relevant litter and waste legislation.
The South Dublin County Council Litter Mangement Plan 2020-2022 proposes to address the negative impacts of litter on our county, improve the quality of life and sense of wellbeing of our residents, and enhance our commercial and tourism potential through effective and efficient enforcement of legislation and regulation, management and maintenance of our public realm and communication, education and awareness. The Litter Management Plan includes annual action plans. Progress on the annual action plans is reported twice yearly to each Area Committee. A full report was presented to members at the February Area Committee Meetings.
Initiatives ongoing 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 and other technologies
Improvements have been achieved which are reflected in the IBAL report, 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.
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. 392 Litter Fines were issued in 2021; 161 fines have been issued up to the end of May 2022.
As part of the Council's commitment to deliver on the objectives of the Corporate Plan and Litter Management Plan, there is an increased targeted focus on known litter generator areas; 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.