Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I also welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank my Labour Party colleagues for agreeing to use our Private Members' time to bring the Bill to Second Stage. I acknowledge the support of all Members of the House on this important matter, particularly those on the Government benches with whom I have discussed the need for and content of the Bill. I am aware of the work of Senator Byrne in the area and thank him for discussing the Bill. I also thank Senator Cummins who has worked with colleagues in the Government on the importance of this legislation. They are just two of the Senators to whom I have spoken on the issues raised by the Bill. I understand the Government is not opposing the Bill at this stage which is very good, and I thank it for this cross-party support on such an important matter.

I wish to use some of my time today to outline the provisions of this important Bill. Local authorities are competent authorities performing law enforcement functions when prosecuting offences under waste and litter legislation. The law enforcement directive applies to these activities. In 2018 the Data Protection Commission, DPC, inquired into the use of surveillance technologies by both the Garda Síochána and local authorities. This included an examination of the use of CCTV by local authorities in the enforcement of litter and waste management legislation. The DPC concluded that neither the Litter Pollution Act 1997, the Waste Management Act 1996 nor the Local Government Act 2001 are sufficient to meet the requirements of the law enforcement directive provisions in Part 5 of the 2018 Act regarding the deployment of CCTV cameras for law enforcement purposes.

It is important to stress that the directive does not prohibit the use of CCTV for such purposes. However, it requires that such use be properly authorised by law. Under the directive, two criteria must be fulfilled for data processing to be lawful. First, the processing must be necessary for the performance of a task of a competent authority. Second, the processing must be based on either European Union or member state law.

Where member state law forms the basis for processing, that law should specify the objective of processing, the personal data to be processed and the purposes of the processing. In other words, the local authorities' function of prosecuting crime as confirmed by law is not sufficient. The local authorities' processing of personal data, such as gathering and using images of identifiable individuals by CCTV to use as evidence in the prosecution of dumping cases, must also be based a provision of Union or member state law.

According to the DPC, the matters that member state law must specify do not necessarily need to be codified in an Act of the Oireachtas, but they must have a clear legal basis either in common law or in an enactment. It is illegitimate for an Act of the Oireachtas to implicitly provide for the processing of certain personal data without expressly listing each category of personal data that is to be processed. Such an Act would be sufficient to provide a lawful basis once the objectives, the personal data to be processed and the purposes are clear and foreseeable from the Act.For example, the DPC examined section 38 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which regulates the use of CCTV in public places by gardaí. The examination concluded that the section meets the requirements of Part 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018, interpreted along with the law enforcement directive. It is clear that personal data are being processed for the purposes of securing public order and safety in facilitating the prevention, detection and prosecution of offences.

Following my outline of the technicalities of this Bill, the simple fact is that illegal dumping is out of control. The problem is not confined to the remote, beautiful countryside, although it is at its worst there. This problem can be found on the main streets of cities and the main roads through towns as well as every secondary road and laneway in the country. One of the very few positives of the lockdown has been the number of citizens out walking and exercising within the 5 km limit currently in place. However, this increase in exercise has also led to the realisation by so many of what we are doing to the environment. What people are seeing in greater numbers is simply environmental vandalism. Our main roads resemble dumping grounds where one is more likely to see discarded coffee cups, cans and anything else that will fit out a vehicle window as it is drives by. Such is the volume of rubbish being illegally deposited, country lanes are now extensions of landfill sites.

As I indicated recently in the House, the farming community is also under attack. We admire the beautiful green fields and the colours of the crops growing there, but the headlands, ditches and gateways of farms have become the favourite dumping spots of the professional and amateur illegal dumper.

The Bill would allow the use of CCTV by local authorities to facilitate the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence of illegal dumping. There is no doubt that CCTV is one of the most effective tools in the fight against the blight that is illegal dumping.

The figures involved in the clean-up of this vandalism are mind-blowing. Three local authorities on which Labour Party colleagues sought information are spending an average of €3 million a year on clean-ups. Those local authorities are Kildare, Meath and South Dublin. If this is replicated throughout the 31 local authorities, then we are wasting an average of €90 million per year on clean-ups. The figure does not include the many volunteer hours so many groups and individuals put in each year trying to keep their localities clean. I pay special tribute to all involved.

Yesterday, we learned that our sports clubs and local authorities have applied for grants valued at €200 million through sports capital grant schemes. Let us imagine if we had €90 million to spend on those grants each year, rather than cleaning up the mess of those who wish to destroy the environment and landscape. Let us imagine for a moment the facilities we would have in every corner of this country.

My local authority in Kildare is now dealing with 40 to 50 incidents each week, up from an average of ten to 20 per week a couple of years ago. My Labour Party colleagues in Clondalkin, Councillor Joanna Tuffy, and the local area representative, Chris O'Dwyer, tell me that South Dublin County Council has cleaned up an additional 750 tonnes of illegal dumping this year, bringing the total tonnage of illegal waste collected by the local authority to 6,760 in 2020. It has budgeted for an additional €200,000 this year to cope with the level of dumping.

In 2020, my Labour Party colleague in Drogheda, Councillor Pio Smith, told me the local authority collected 792 tonnes of fly-tipping waste at a cost of €26,900 in direct disposal costs alone. My colleague in Kerry, Councillor Marie Moloney, told me there were 954 complaints of littering to Kerry County Council last year but no court prosecutions. I could go on. There is a common thread throughout my conversations: this problem is on the increase and dumping is now widespread in every corner of this country.

From replies to parliamentary questions to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to Labour Party colleagues, I am aware of an anti-dumping awareness communications campaign entitled Your Country-Your Waste. With respect to everybody involved, this is simply not working. What we need now are detections and prosecutions of those who feel that they are above the law. In recent months, I have discussed the increase in this problem with colleagues from all over the country. This Bill is the first and most important step in the fightback. We are all aware of those who advertise refuse collections illegally through the distribution of flyers or what is a bigger problem, advertising on social media.Colleagues such as Councillor Elaine McGinty in Meath have contacted the social media companies to highlight this illegal practice. Replies from the companies have not been forthcoming but perhaps that is a debate for another day. The practice of a person with a car or van calling to homes to collect rubbish for a few bob definitely needs to be tackled. Catching these people will become a bit easier if we pass this Bill. We must limit the availability of those who carry out such crimes on our landscape and attack our beautiful country every day.

I congratulate the Department on the additional moneys it has provided to local authorities to employ community wardens. My experience of dealing with local wardens has been extremely positive. They are passionate about their job. They go above and beyond to assist public representatives and the public in general by cleaning up after this disgusting behaviour. Wardens are to be seen climbing into drains and sifting through mounds of rubbish to deal with this growing disaster.

We rightly promote Ireland as a beautiful unspoilt island with its 40 shades of green and a landscape to die for. We urgently need to intervene, however, as otherwise those same green fields, important city streets, beautiful hills and quaint country lanes will disappear under mountains of discarded fridges, sofas, tyres and household rubbish. The use of cameras at these locations will prevent dumping if this Bill goes through. It is as simple as that. We need to let people know that if they wind down a window and discard rubbish while driving or drive down a country lane and deposit tyres, they will be caught and, more important, prosecuted. We need to make it known that if people give rubbish to an illegal operator, they will end up with a fine. It is not okay to get rid of rubbish in that way.

I look forward to listening to the contributions of other Members. From speaking to public representatives throughout the country in the months leading up to this debate, I have found that illegal dumping is probably the second biggest issue, after representations about housing, that many public representatives are dealing with at this time. Such is the extent of this problem throughout the country. We are told the use of CCTV by local authorities in the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of an offence of illegal dumping must be placed on a legal footing. We, in the Labour Party, believe we can achieve that through this legislation. I ask all Senators to support the Bill and call on the Government to allow its swift passage.