Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Wall. He and I have been chatting on this matter and we had a race to try to bring our own legislation forward. I know Senator Keogan was also trying to get this issue addressed. Ultimately, I am sure everyone in this House wants to see the scourge of illegal dumping addressed.

I take some issue with what Senator Black said about concern in working-class areas. I get several complaints from working-class areas about the dumping that is happening in their communities, as well as what is happening in rural communities. There is a real demand to have this issue addressed. Given the powers that local authorities have, it is not that the GDPR is preventing CCTV being used; it is simply that the underpinning legislation is not in place.A number of colleagues have raised the fact that dumping appears to be getting worse. That is possibly because of the work of Tidy Towns crews and development groups, which have been keeping areas clear for so long that we have not noticed the extent of the scourge, but because of the pandemic the dumping has become much more visible. I notice it when I am out walking or running. The point was made very eloquently by Senator Pauline O'Reilly that it is not just aesthetically unpleasing, but it is really damaging to the environment and especially to livestock. I do not care about privatisation or any such arguments because this is about civic responsibility. It costs more to load a bag into the back of a van and drive out a country road to dump it into a field than it does to bring it into a civic amenity site and dispose of it properly. This is about personal responsibility. The ignorant people who are dumping, whether it is in urban or rural areas, need to be caught and to face the full rigours of the law.

I conducted a survey of all local authorities late last year on the cost of collecting waste and dealing with dumping and littering. Senator Wall is correct: I estimated it to be close to €120 million a year. One of the problems is that local authorities record expenditure on waste management in different ways. Wexford County Council receives an average of 2,500 complaints about dumping or littering every year and that is replicated throughout the country. In Wexford, we spend in the order of €2.3 to €2.6 million a year dealing with waste and litter. That, again, is replicated across local authorities.

I support the Bill. I was working on a similar Bill. I do not mind which Bill goes forward to Committee Stage to address the matter, but it is crucial that the solution is technology-neutral. This is about using whatever technology can be used to catch those who are responsible. Senator Cummins referred to drone technology, which I would like to see being used. Unusually, while there is not underpinning legislation to use CCTV, there is underpinning legislation as part of the Waste Management Act 1996 that allows local authorities to use drone technology. The difficulty in the case in Waterford is that Waterford City and County Council failed to implement the necessary measures to prevent the unlawful processing of the data. That was not the council's fault, as its intention was good, but the measures fell foul. We must examine and put in place measures that are technology-neutral, not just to deal with fixed and mobile CCTV or drone technology but whatever technology is going to develop in the future.

People talk about CCTV, but it is not good enough to capture somebody hopping out of a van. What we really need to look at is automated number plate recognition, ANPR, cameras. I appreciate some of the concerns outlined by Senator Black in that regard. There was a case taken by the DPC against Meath County Council where some of the data were not used properly. I have engaged quite a lot with the DPC on this. The DPC is very clear that it is not about GDPR trying to prevent us from catching any of these people, it is that we do not move to a surveillance society. The advice is very clearly that if we use the ANPR cameras, we must ensure there is an appropriate balance between the detection of litter offenders on one side and the risks to individuals who have committed no offence if we are following particular vehicles. Whatever we do to deal with it, we are tired of this scourge. People are fed up with it. Farmers are fed up of having to take bags of rubbish out of their fields. People in all communities, including working-class communities, are tired of finding stuff dumped in their area. People want to give local authorities whatever powers are necessary to address the issue.

This is something that requires a lot of urgency. I know there are data protection issues, but they can be resolved and the DPC is happy to work on them. Whether it is Senator Wall's Bill, Senator Keogan's Bill, my Bill or a Government Bill, or whatever way we do it, I would love us to have the measures in place by this summer to finally address this issue.