Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Mullen. We will take three minutes each, if that is okay. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. He is welcome to the House. I compliment my colleague, Senator Wall, and his colleagues on bringing this important Bill before the House. We have heard about the Tidy Towns groups and various other groups that work really hard to keep our towns, cities, villages and rural areas clean and free from litter. I live right beside one of the busiest roads in Ireland, the M50. I walk every day now as I am trying to lose some of the old Christmas whatever and, within a quarter of a mile of my house, over three days, I found bags of clothes discarded on the side of the road. These bags were discarded on a road that is never free of traffic. There is always somebody on that road so whoever threw the clothes out had some neck.

Senator Wall's Bill should go further. When he spoke, Senator Cummins touched on the issue of the technology now available, including drone technology. When the Bill comes to Committee Stage, I will table some amendments. The former Senator, Feargal Quinn, brought a Bill on drone technology through First Stage and Second Stage and on to Committee Stage. He pointed out that drones are now being used by criminals. They go into housing estates and fly the drones over and down the backs of houses to see if there is anybody in. If there is not, they break into the house. Drone technology can, however, also be used to manage illegal dumping.

I live 2.5 km from a major recycling centre in Ballyogan. The fleet of traffic going in and out every Saturday and Sunday is something to behold. These are people who care about the place in which they live. They bring their rubbish and material for recycling to a centre.

I will touch on two issues before I sit down. One is that we need greater education on the whole area of dumping, recycling, civic responsibility and all of that. The second is that we really need to give powers to local authorities. If people are caught dumping, they need to be brought through the legal system and it needs to hurt them where it hurts people most, in their pockets. I greatly appreciate that the Minister of State is not opposing this Bill and I again compliment my colleague, Senator Wall, and his party on bringing forward this legislation. I agree with everything Senators Byrne and Black said on the legalities of the matter.