COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN / PALMERSTOWN / NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

QUESTION NO.8

QUESTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

Can the Chief Executive please confirm: 1. Whether South Dublin County Council currently has any plans to roll out dedicated dog-waste (dog-poo) bins across the county? 2. Whether SDCC is currently unique among Irish local authorities in not providing or maintaining dedicated dog-waste bins? 3. If there truly are none or significantly fewer dog-waste bins in SDCC would the Council consider introducing them to improve environmental cleanliness, public health and recreational amenity in our parks and open spaces especially in high-usage areas like Lucan?

REPLY:

Every bin provided by the Council, of which there are approximately 900 around the county both on-street and in public parks, is available for the disposal of light litter including dog waste which has been properly bagged and this is considered to be the best approach.  A review of the litter bin service was carried out under the remit of the Environment, Climate and Public Realm SPC in 2017. The review examined many aspects of the litter bin service including the issue of dog litter specific bins and the need to provide dispensers for dog waste disposal bags. The review concluded that the provision of dog litter specific bins would require a major change to the existing collection operation.   The current policy as determined through the SPC review is that dog litter specific bins are not required when standard litter bins can accept this waste.  The Council currently does not provide this type of bin and has no plans to change this policy at the present time.  With regard to other local authorities this Council has not gathered and collated this type of information.  The system currently in place already meets the requirements of environmental cleanliness and public health.