Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 469: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will extend the community warden scheme to a council (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4722/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The pilot community warden service, which was established in five local authorities in 2002, has since been placed on a permanent footing. Following a process of adjudication, the practical issues concerning the extension of the service to other local authorities have been settled. Accordingly, it is now open to other local authorities to introduce the scheme, having regard to local circumstances and taking account of the need to achieve payroll cost reductions in 2009.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 470: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he is satisfied with the number of litter wardens employed by a council (details supplied); if he will provide extra resources the council in order that they can employ additional wardens in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4723/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Under the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2003, primary responsibility for developing and implementing responses to litter lies with local authorities. The appointment of litter wardens is a matter for individual local authorities within each authority's current authorised staffing level.

Statistics on local authority enforcement action on litter, including the numbers of litter wardens employed, are submitted by local authorities to my Department every six months; the latest figures available relate to the period January — June 2008 and are obtainable from the Oireachtas Library.

I would like to point out that local authorities are independent statutory bodies, with democratically elected councils and their own management system. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the level of expenditure on individual local services, including the deployment of litter wardens, as part of its annual estimates process.