Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I met the group in the corridor earlier. I thank them for being here. I wish them an enjoyable visit.

I thank Senator Costello for raising this matter. Under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to litter pollution lies with local authorities. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the most appropriate public awareness enforcement and clean-up actions relating to litter, while taking account of local circumstances and priorities. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Deputy O'Brien. The Department provides financial support to local authority efforts to tackle litter through the anti-litter anti-graffiti awareness scheme. Last year, €750,000 was provided under the scheme. The same will be available this year. Funding is also provided in support of a number of important anti-litter initiatives, including the national spring clean, Picker Pals, the PURE project and the Irish Business Against Litter campaign.The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, which was enacted in 2022, advances several legislative provisions that would further support local authorities in their anti-litter efforts, including the GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies such as CCTV for litter enforcement purposes.

Senator Costello raised the issue of IBAL. The Department provided funding of €40,000 a year to An Taisce for the past number of years to undertake the service on behalf of IBAL. However, the Department has no control over the methodology used or the area surveyed, which is entirely a matter for IBAL and An Taisce. IBAL provides independent commentary on the litter picture in 40 towns and cities across the country, and it is entirely appropriate that the Department has no involvement.

Like Senator Costello, I wish to give my thanks to the many volunteers in her area of Tallaght who take immense pride in the work that they do. I understand her frustration and concerns around the projections and commentary. The important point I would make from the perspective of the Department and the Government is that a number of other important anti-litter measures are ongoing, for example, the deposit return scheme, which has had a very strong start in its first year and is now achieving high returns, with the average weekly returns exceeding 25 million containers, demonstrating a high level of public participation in the scheme. To date, over 1.53 billion containers have been return, with €262 million in deposits refunded to customers. That is an extraordinary amount of money. According to the latest IBAL study results, there has been a very significant fall in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans in the 500-plus sites since the deposit return scheme was introduced last year. As we know, the deposit return scheme is an effective litter prevention measure. Furthermore, the IBAL results show that more towns are classified as clean, with only four areas classified as littered or seriously littered, the lowest level in five years.

More broadly speaking, significant funding has been provided by the Department to combat waste and littering year on year, including €20 million in anti-dumping measures since 2017, which funds 1,500 projects nationwide; €150 million since 2003 to support the provision and retention of local authority waste staff, including an allocation of €7 million to local authorities under the waste enforcement measures grant scheme; a further €3.8 million allocated last year to support the expansion of the role and staffing complement of the waste enforcement regional lead authorities, and the ongoing development of the new waste programme co-ordination office in a circular economy; and €20 million since 1997 in the cofunding of local authority anti-litter awareness and education initiatives, including €750,000 under this scheme in 2024.

The important point to make is that Senator Costello should perhaps engage with IBAL herself. I would encourage her to do so. She is right; there is a lot of anti-litter education work being done in the Tallaght area, and I would hope that residents and those volunteers working with South Dublin County Council can work to ensure they continue to improve their area. It is through anti-litter awareness and education initiatives that we can see everybody engaging in the process properly.