Holly Cairns
Question:112. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the steps he is taking to address literal and illegal dumping. [19761/23]
View answerThursday, 27 April 2023
Questions (112)
Written answers
While the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to littering and illegal dumping lies with the local authorities, my Department provide extensive policy, financial and legislative support to the local authority sector to support their efforts. For example, my Department provided €750,000 under the Anti-Litter & Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme in 2022, with a similar amount allocated for 2023. Under this scheme, local authorities are responsible for selecting and providing funding to suitable anti-litter projects in their functional areas. Funding is also provided annually in support of a number of important anti-litter initiatives such as the National Spring Clean, Picker Pals, the PURE Project and the Irish Business against Litter (IBAL) Litter League. The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 also advanced several legislative provisions which will further enhance efforts in this area, including providing for the GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies, such as CCTV for litter and waste enforcement purposes and an increase in the level of the on-the-spot fine for littering. In addition, my Department provides significant support to the local authority sector in their efforts to tackle illegal dumping. Almost €15m, including €2.8m in 2022, has been provided to the sector under the Anti-Dumping Initiative (ADI) since it was first introduced in 2017 in order to encourage a collaborative approach between local authorities, community groups and other State Agencies to tackling the problem of illegal dumping. A further€3m has been allocated in support of the 2023 ADI. My Department also continues to invest heavily in the local authority waste enforcement network through the Local Authority Waste Enforcement Measures Grant Scheme, with the intention of maintaining a visible presence of waste enforcement personnel on the ground across the State. €7.7m was provided to local authorities under the scheme in 2022 and a similar amount has been allocated in support of the scheme in 2023.
A further €1mn was provided in 2022 to support the enhancement of the three Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) and the establishment of a new National Local Authority Waste Programme Coordinator role. Further funding has been allocated in 2023 to continue to support this ongoing expansion of waste enforcement structures across the country.