Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for his work on this, and Senator Wall for his previous legislation around illegal dumping. We all agree that it is a blight on everybody and on society. Senator Wall mentioned a rural area. Coming from a rural area, I can give the House example after example of dumping in the uplands. Wicklow started an initiative almost 13 years ago, the PURE project, protect the uplands and the rural environment. It has been massively successful. Senators should see how successful it is in Wicklow and what it has done for education and for the collection of waste in our uplands. It is one truck, one man driving it and a bit of administration behind it, sponsored by the Department, Wicklow County Council, South Dublin County Council and Coillte. At the early stages a few other State bodies funded it but they have backed out of it now. It has collected 3,473 tonnes of waste in the uplands in our rural communities. It is waste of every description and every kind we can mention.

The sickening thing is the majority of this waste can be brought to a recycling centre and disposed of free of charge. There is no need to bring it to the uplands. There is no need to dump in forestry entrances or sensitive woodlands. Fridges, sofas, mattresses - I could go on and on. The Minister of State is aware of it. That project should be adopted in every county. I ask the Minister of State to have a closer look at it. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about it. We are trying to get a ten-year funding stream in place for it. It is massively successful. Senator Pauline O'Reilly is aware of this. Another of the schemes is the adopt a mile scheme where the community adopts a mile of their area and looks at the biodiversity, the natural heritage. On some roads in Wicklow people might see a sign in a field that just says "Biddy's field". That gives the history of that mile of road.

We need to help organisations like the PURE project by bringing those who are dumping rubbish in our uplands to task. That is the thrust of this legislation. We might have issues around surveillance and GDPR. The thrust of it is to attack this continued illegal dumping. Despite this project going on for 13 years we still have the dumping.It is not that this is a spur-of-the-moment thing; this is ongoing. This is 244 tonnes of rubbish collected every year in the uplands - there is no urban environment there - in Wicklow.

Given our proximity to Dublin, there are a lot of rural and scenic parks. I gave an example yesterday when we were speaking on the plinth about this. I come from Glendalough and I am lucky because there is a great deal of State influence in Glendalough. There is the national park. The Office of Public Works and Wicklow County Council ensure it is maintained and managed. There is surveillance there almost all the time through rangers and other people. However, there is a corresponding valley in Glenmalure. This weekend, the first weekend with good weather, it was thronged with campers. The level and type of waste that was left behind was disgusting and an absolute disgrace. Martina Byrne has fought a campaign, year in, year out, to try to prevent this happening. We need this legislation to support her campaign. Glenmalure welcomes the campers, but does not want them to leave their rubbish behind. When I refer to rubbish I am talking about the entire camp. The campers come down for the weekend, have a good time and walk away leaving everything else behind them. Another area, Lough Dan, was crucified during the pandemic. After one weekend, in just one collection, a trailer load of waste was collected.

This has to stop. We must do whatever we can to prevent this happening now and into the future. I accept that there are concerns about this legislation, but we cannot let what is happening in our rural environment continue. It must stop. I know this legislation will help. The PURE project has gone through hell and high water to try to bring prosecutions against illegal dumpers, but it failed. This is where this legislation can help. As other Members have said, we need to do this now. We have to get this legislation through the House now and have it enacted so we can protect our environment. At the end of the day, that is what we are doing - protecting our environment.