Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for asking this question, which is close to my heart and which I have been following closely since we legislated for it. The policy document, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, contains a commitment to data-proof all waste enforcement legislation to ensure all available and emerging audiovisual recording equipment, including CCTV, can be used in a manner that is compliant with the general data protection regulation, GDPR.

My Department has engaged with the City and County Management Association, CCMA, the Department of Justice and the Data Protection Commissioner, DPC, to draft suitable legislation to give effect to this commitment. This legislation, amending both the Litter Pollution Act and the Waste Management Act, is contained in the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act.

Sections 22 and 33 of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act require that the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, prepares and submits draft codes of practice to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for approval for the purposes of setting standards for the operation of CCTV and other mobile recording devices to deter environmental pollution and to facilitate the prevention, detection and prosecution of both littering and illegal dumping offences. The LGMA is currently working on the preparation of these codes of practice. Once approved, local authorities will then be in a position to initiate litter and waste enforcement measures involving the GDPR-compliant use of technologies such as CCTV.

I have been in contact with that committee as it develops its code of practice. It has been working with the DPC to make sure it is compliant with the GDPR rules and I am waiting for the committee to come back to the Department for ministerial approval of its guidelines. It is keen to have this and to have something effective. CCTV can be used for littering offences. For dumping offences, our legislation allows for body cameras and for drones to be used to catch people who are involved in more industrial and profit-motivated fly-tipping, illegal dumps and that type of activity. Therefore, the types of interventions are proportionate to the size of a crime. You do not need a drone to follow somebody who is dropping litter.

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