Under the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2003, primary responsibility for developing and implementing responses to litter lies with local authorities. The appointment of litter wardens is a matter for individual local authorities within each authority's current authorised staffing level.
Statistics on local authority enforcement action on litter, including the numbers of litter wardens employed, are submitted by local authorities to my Department every six months; the latest figures available relate to the period January — June 2008 and are obtainable from the Oireachtas Library.
I would like to point out that local authorities are independent statutory bodies, with democratically elected councils and their own management system. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the level of expenditure on individual local services, including the deployment of litter wardens, as part of its annual estimates process.