Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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491. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of funding given to each local authority for the express purpose of cleaning up illegally dumped materials, by county, in tabular form. [3319/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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My Department encourages a multi-facetted approach to tackling the problem of illegal dumping, incorporating enforcement, public awareness and education. As such and in recognition of the impact of illegal dumping on communities across the country, an anti-dumping initiative was launched by me in 2017. The aim of this initiative is to provide funding for projects tackling illegal dumping, including the provision of support for the clean-up, monitoring and surveillance of dumping black-spots. I allocated funding of almost €1.3 million from the Environment Fund for this purpose.

These funds have been used to support 229 clean-up and restorative projects led by community, environmental and sporting groups across the country. Funds have also been made available to equip local authority enforcement officers with the latest technologies available to support enforcement of our waste laws. Through the deployment of overt and covert surveillance equipment, the use of drone technology and mobile workforce applications, we are making the risk of detection high enough to deter those prepared to engage in illegal waste practices.

In addition and in recognition of the particular difficulties border counties have experienced in dealing with diesel laundering waste dumping, my Department has also fully reimbursed the clean-up costs associated with this nefarious practice with payments of €174,906 and €49,307 being made to Louth and Monaghan County Councils respectively in 2017.

The allocations made to each local authority under the 2017 Anti-Dumping Initiative are detailed in the following table.