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

I absolutely agree with the Deputy. I feel angry and ashamed when I see rubbish that has been dumped, often commercially for profit. We cannot reach those people through awareness campaigns. They know they are doing the wrong thing. The only way we can reach them is through gathering evidence that is admissible in court to obtain prosecution. We could not do that in the past because the challenge was that we were breaching their privacy. We needed primary legislation to deal with that. We now finally have that legislation. As of today, local authorities are empowered to set up these schemes and put in CCTV cameras. As I stated, more than €10 million in funding has been provided for anti-dumping initiatives and enforcement. If a local authority is still having difficulty, it can contact my Department. We should remember that local authorities are very good at this. They know how to install CCTV; it is a part of their competence. Now that they have the ability to catch people who are despoiling the countryside, that will be of interest.

I ask members of the public who know of a black spot for litter or dumping in their area to contact their local authority and ask it to put in CCTV under the scheme in order to catch those carrying out the dumping.

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