Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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159. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government for an update on his Department's efforts to fulfil the Programme for Government commitments to target dumping blackspots and use tools like CCTV and drones to monitor dumping hotspots to catch and penalise offenders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30323/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Department introduced legislative provisions to allow for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant usage of CCTV and other mobile recording devices for litter and waste enforcement purposes in the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022. This legislation required, inter alia, that the Local Government Management Agency develop Codes of Practice, for sign off by the Minister. The Codes have been approved and the relevant sections of the Act were commenced on 15 February 2024. It is an operational matter for each local authority to put in place the necessary measures as required under the relevant Code of Practice to support such usage.

The Department continues to provide financial, policy and legislative support to the local authority sector to support enforcement efforts. Over €20 million has been provided to local authorities under the Anti-Dumping Initiative (ADI) since it was launched to encourage a collaborative approach between local authorities, community groups and other State Agencies to tackling the problem of illegal dumping and to target black spots.

This has supported the completion of almost 2,000 projects across all 31 local authorities, the remediation of local black-spots and the removal of close to 25,000 tonnes of waste from our landscape. Details of the specific projects supported are available on Gov.ie - ADI

Funding provided under the ADI has also been utilised by local authorities to purchase CCTV and other mobile recording equipment and to put in place enforcement measures involving the use of such equipment. As part of Government’s commitment to target dumping blackspots, a further €3 million has been allocated to local authorities under the ADI in 2025. It is a matter for the local authorities to apply for this funding through the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities, who administer the scheme on behalf of the Department.