Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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1461. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to explain the position regarding litter (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34791/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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My Department provides extensive support to local authorities to enable them to discharge their statutory obligations under the Litter Pollution Act 1997 (as amended) and Waste Management Act 1996 (as amended). Data available under the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System show that the proportion of areas surveyed in 2013 deemed to be completely unpolluted stands at 12.2%, the highest level achieved since monitoring began. This demonstrates clearly that the efforts to tackle litter are paying dividends.

In March 2014, my predecessor announced the provision of €850,000 in grants from the Environment Fund to local authorities under the 2014 Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme. As in previous years, the scheme enables local authorities to provide funding support for appropriate local public education and awareness initiatives in relation to both litter and graffiti.

In 2012, a once-off grant allocation was provided to assist local authorities improve enforcement in the area of fly tipping and small-scale illegal dumping. It was intended that these grants should be utilised to assist in the deployment of staff and the purchase of appropriate equipment to tackle the problem of fly tipping and small-scale illegal dumping in known problem areas within their functional areas. A total sum of €750,000 was allocated to the 34 local authorities under the scheme. Measures eligible for funding included the purchase of mobile CCTV equipment and associated signage/dummy boxes, training and deployment for local authority staff and the employment of external CCTV contractors.

Also during 2012, my Department entered into a negotiated agreement with the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) to mount a national litter campaign in the print media, aimed specifically at tackling the issues of littering and illegal dumping. The NNI made available, free of charge, €500,000 worth of advertising space to raise awareness of the damaging effects that fly tipping and small-scale illegal dumping have on our environment and our economy, particularly on the tourism and agriculture sectors. Advertisements appeared in national, regional and local newspapers and magazines over the course of the peak summer period, highlighting the impact of illegal dumping and providing information for people to report illegal dumping activity to the Environment Protection Agency’s lo-call hotline number 1850 365 121.

In relation to the possibility of examining mechanisms by which the names of offenders under the Litter Pollution Act might be published in a 'name and shame' context, the Data Protection Commissioner previously contacted my Department regarding the publication, by local authorities, of the names and addresses of individuals convicted under the Litter Pollution Acts and advised that this activity would be in direct contravention of the Data Protection Act and its principles without specific legal provision being made. However, under section 21 of the Fines Act 2010, a provision is already in place to allow the Courts Service itself to make public a list of names of persons who fail to pay fines on time.