Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Again, I think surveillance equipment is very important. I understand that Cavan has two full-time staff to cover the entire county and Monaghan County Council has one full-time staff member. There has been a massive reduction in the number of staff allocated to this job, which I see as one of the most important things we can do for our counties and constituencies. The Cavan diaspora engagement strategy needs that kind of back-up so we can have a beautiful countryside for people to visit.

I will cite one other incident, that of 120 tyres dumped along the N2 into Monaghan. The Minister knows as well as I do there is a huge problem of tyres being dumped across the countryside, for example, 120 in one particular spot. If there is one member of staff in a local authority trying to deal with that, to clean up the mess after it and to find the culprits and prosecute, the local authorities need more manpower, along with the equipment for which the Minister is making available an allocation of funding.

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