John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 1825: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of people prosecuted for litter offences in 2006; the number of on the spot fines made; the way this compares to 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1327/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Statistics on local authority enforcement action, including the number of prosecutions taken and the number of on-the-spot fines issued, are submitted by local authorities to my Department every six months; these figures are available in the Oireachtas Library.

The number of prosecutions taken and on-the-spot fines issued for the first six months of 2006 — the most recent information available — are 1367 and 14,162 respectively. For the whole year 2005, 2197 prosecutions were taken and 26,614 on-the-spot fines issued. Extrapolating from the January to June 2006 figures, local authorities are maintaining the increased levels of enforcement action seen in recent years and the full 2006 figures, when available, should be up on those recorded in 2005.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 1826: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he will not appoint someone to deal specifically with the problem of litter as recommended by IBAL; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1328/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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IBAL is one of a number of anti-litter initiatives supported by my Department. It is aimed at raising public awareness of litter pollution and energising support for local authority anti-litter activities.

In August last year, following the publication of a litter survey which they had carried out in Dublin, IBAL suggested that a litter commissioner should be put in place to manage litter in Dublin City. Under the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2003 primary responsibility for developing and implementing responses to litter pollution rests with local authorities. In Dublin City Council, delegated responsibility for litter management is assigned to the appropriate Assistant City Manager. As far as my Department is aware, Dublin City Council consider this organisational arrangement to be appropriate and have not developed proposals, either internally or to my Department, in response to the IBAL suggestion.