Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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115. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to provide an update on the implementation of the relevant sections of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 that provide for the use by local authorities of CCTV and other technologies to tackle illegal dumping; the extent to which these sections are being used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48641/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The legislation allowing for the installation and usage of CCTV for litter and waste enforcement purposes required that the Local Government Management Agency submit to the Minister for approval, separate Codes of Practice for the operation of CCTV schemes under the Litter Pollution Act and the Waste Management Act and a further Code of Practice for the use of "mobile recording devices" (e.g. drones) under the Waste Management Act.

These Codes of Practice were approved in January 2024 and the relevant sections of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act were commenced on 15 February 2024. The approved Codes of Practice are available at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-climate-energy-and-the-environment/publications/waste-enforcement/

It has been open to all local authorities since that date to begin the process of putting the required procedures in place to allow for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant use of CCTV and other mobile recording devices to combat litter and illegal dumping. It is an operational matter for each individual local authority to determine the most appropriate enforcement responses to incidents of illegal dumping, including the use of CCTV and other technologies, while taking account of local circumstances and priorities. As such, my Department does not collate information on the number of local authorities who have adopted the relevant Codes or put in place CCTV schemes to tackle illegal dumping.