Chris Andrews (Dublin South East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to speak on this matter. In 2003, Ireland came close to introducing a chewing gum levy. However, ultimately this move did not go ahead and I believe now is an opportune time for the issue to be revisited.

Chewing gum residue is unsightly and very difficult and costly to remove. In an ideal world, people who chew gum would dispose of it properly in litter bins but unfortunately, this does not happen, and like cigarettes, the residue ends up on the streets. Reports indicate that chewing gum accounts for a quarter of all food litter dropped on streets, and last year Dublin City Council spent some €37 million cleaning up the streets. In the current economic climate much-needed funds should not have to be spent on cleaning up chewing gum and other litter.

An article in one of the Sunday newspapers last week indicated an unexpected side effect of the bad weather was that all the grit spread on the city's streets to combat the ice had the duel effect of lifting away much of the chewing gum. However, I believe the Minister of State would agree that this is not a solution to the problem. Earlier this month a survey carried out by An Taisce pointed to the fact that although many towns around the country have done a great job in reducing litter, our cities are not particularly clean. Dublin ranked 51 out of 60 towns and cities surveyed, and was found to be "littered" by European standards. Dublin, and Ireland generally, rely heavily on tourism and having clean, litter-free streets is crucial to ensuring overseas visitors are attracted here. Businesses in the city centre pay a host of rates and levies including BID fees. Dublin City Council relies on these moneys to provide essential services. Chewing gum is an enormous problem on our city streets, and a levy could be directly used towards cleaning this product from our pavements, allowing council finance to be diverted to other areas.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicated to me in reply to a parliamentary question that negotiations with the chewing gum industry are currently underway following the expiration of an agreed three-year awareness campaign. I believe that while the gum litter taskforce has done great work in raising awareness of this problem and educating people about disposing of their litter, a levy is the only way forward and I would ask that the Minister to strongly consider this.

While I welcome the raising of on-the-spot fines for littering from €25 to €150, it is critical that these are processed in order to be effective in deterring people from littering. Reports in June of this year pointed to the fact that more than half of litter fines imposed by local authorities remain unpaid, which is unacceptable and I believe this matter must also be addressed to deter people from littering.

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