Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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92. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his legislative plans to deal with the issues raised by the Data Protection Commissioner regarding the use of CCTV systems in the detection of illegal dumping and litter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29375/21]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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99. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will introduce legislation to allow local authorities to use CCTV footage to prosecute illegal dumpers; if there are data protection concerns in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29365/21]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to tackle illegal dumping; if he intends to amend current legislation to permit the use of anti-dumping CCTV; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29406/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 92, 99 and 100 together.

The introduction of a Waste Management (Circular Economy) Bill is a commitment under the "Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy", published in September 2020. My Department is currently finalising the draft Heads of the Bill, after which I intend to seek Government approval to publish the General Scheme.On the issue of CCTV, it is the view of the Data Protection Commission (DPC) that, although the Litter Pollution Act and the Waste Management Act provide local authorities with powers to prevent, investigate, detect and prosecute littering and dumping offences, the Acts do not provide for the processing of images of members of the public using CCTV footage. This advice is being considered by my Department and is subject to internal legal advice.

It is my intention to facilitate not only the use of CCTV, but also the use of a broad range of Audio Visual Recording equipment under the Bill. A combination of legislation and guidance will help to ensure that the processing of personal data may be carried out by local authorities tasked with enforcing litter and waste law, thus providing an important deterrent in order to protect our environment from the scourge of littering and illegal dumping, while at the same time respecting the privacy rights of citizens.