Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for giving me the opportunity to speak. I do not have a whole pile to say on this other than to congratulate my colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, on bringing forward this important legislation. As a councillor and active citizen in my community, I have wanted this type of legislation brought forward for a long time.

I live in probably the most beautiful part of Ireland, namely, north County Louth and the Cooley Mountains. We are scourged with fly-tipping and illegal dumping. Every weekend I go towards the Long Woman's Grave, which is a beautiful scenic spot. There are mattresses and an endless amount of people passing and thinking they can casually dump things there. Louth County Council has to clean it up. If we added up all that money and cost upon our already struggling councils working within tight budgets, it must be astronomical. It is disgraceful that, on one hand, people talk about protecting our beautiful countryside, biodiversity and what we have in this country for free, namely, the beauty thereof, while on the other hand we have scumbags coming along and leaving their scum behind. It is uncalled for and I am sick of seeing my beautiful countryside, towns and villages ruined by the scourge of fly-tipping and illegal dumping.

As a Border representative, I highlight the scourge of diesel sludge. I hope it will be prevented by this legislation. There are hotspots around the Border where diesel sludge is dumped continuously and it needs to be tackled.

I urge the Minister of State, when he meets with his northern colleagues, to focus on cross-Border co-operation, particularly along the Border. We have serious issues making sure northern-registered cars can be prosecuted and that people who have addresses in the North can be prosecuted for dumping their rubbish.

I congratulate my colleague for bringing forward this legislation. It is important that we tackle illegal dumping and fly-tipping because it is a cost and that money should be spent on far better things, such as building up our communities, looking after our streetscapes, putting in better resources and housing maintenance. There are so many better things our councils could spend their money on instead on cleaning up other people's rubbish.