Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on illegal dumping and this Bill which aims to ensure that CCTV can be used to prevent it. As I dropped my children to school today, I went down Tinkers Hill and along the Lower Road through Strawberry Beds and noticed the rubbish. I made a mental note that when I came in today I had to ring the council about the rubbish on Clonee Road, Clonsilla Road and Ongar Distributor Road and at Ongar Wood, Tír na nÓg park in Carpenterstown and the 12th lock in Castleknock, as well as the lack of bins in the Phoenix Park. Those are the locations about which people contacted me just this week regarding litter in Dublin 15.

It stuns me that we have never been more environmentally aware and have Tidy Towns groups in areas such as Castleknock, Blanchardstown and Ongar as well as clean-up organisations that are the essence of community action and committed to protecting biodiversity, yet illegal dumping is worse than ever. During Covid, there have been bags of dog waste hanging off trees, masks carelessly dumped on the road and bags of rubbish tipped out at quiet and hidden spots. People have noticed such litter more during lockdown as they were able to enjoy their 5 km zones when life slowed down but, unfortunately, the illegal dumpers did not slow down. We must acknowledge the biodiversity crisis we have and the effect that littering has on it. One sees the historical dumping in one's community when walking or cycling on roads during the lockdown that one would not normally get to see.

I acknowledge that for some people there is financial hardship and that there may be people who are struggling to pay bin charges. However, there are provisions in place to deal with that. What we are discussing today is not hardship; it is heartlessness.

We have to give councils the effective legal mechanisms to deal with this issue and it is to be hoped that the Bill would do so. I acknowledge the work of councillors and how frustrating it is for them to ring the council on a weekly basis about the same spots and the same people who are dumping. However, unless there is a person sitting there watching people littering and can catch them doing so, the dumpers cannot be prosecuted. It is really frustrating for councillors and local authorities and makes their job so much harder. They are using work-intensive methods to catch people, such as through using the waste by-laws or identifying areas where there is dumping and then checking who has or has not got a waste contract and following it up. That is far too much work. The Bill would be of assistance to them.

I acknowledge people's frustration on this issue. Many people have a tendency to blame the councils and councillors instead of the people who are actually doing this. I support the efforts behind this Bill and the usage of CCTV in law enforcement being placed on a statutory basis, but it is the tip of the rubbish pile in terms of the work that is planned with regard to the waste management (circular economy) Bill and the work that was done by the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, on the waste action plan.We need big plans to deal with this and they must take into consideration people's behaviour. We need a strategy that accompanies and complements people's patterns and behaviours, making it easier for people to get rid of their rubbish responsibly. I very much look forward to being able to debate that Bill whenever we get to see it.