Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the decision of the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, to sign off on the regulations that will finally allow local authorities to use CCTV, drones and other technology to catch illegal dumpers and those who are engaged in fly-tipping. Members will be aware this has been a long-running campaign of mine and I am grateful to the Minister of State who certainly took it on board. When we enacted the legislation late in 2022, I thought we would be in a position to move forward but the delays rested with the local government management association. However, as soon as the code went back to the Department, the Minister of State signed off on the regulation. This now means to that every local authority has a code whereby it can safely deploy these technologies to catch the environmental criminals. It is critical that this code is adopted by local authorities and that the resources are provided so that covert CCTV, drones and other technologies can be used to catch these people who, in both urban and rural areas, have been responsible for a lot of environmental damage because of their dumping and fly-tipping. I hope the message can be sent out very clearly by local authorities and that there will be an active campaign to try to prevent this odious practice. I know the TidyTowns groups and development associations have been looking for this to happen for many years. I hope that local councillors who feel quite strongly about this will raise it in their local council chambers and that the chief executives of the councils, who are involved through the LGMA in designing the codes, will ensure this is treated as a priority.