Rachel Cunningham
An independent councillor for Ballymun/Finglas has said it is a disgrace that €1 million of the tax payers money was spent cleaning up illegal dumping last year.
“Following on from a question I put into this months council meeting, it is shocking to learn that such a sum is being spent on illegal dumping per year,” Councillor Noeleen Reilly stressed.
“This money could have been so much better spent on in all our communities on projects like new playgrounds, environmental improvements, school safety zones to name a few.
“The idea that some people think this is a free service is unacceptable. It takes away from communities who are crying out for supports.”
Councillor O’Reilly said it was frustrating that this issue would be such a problem, adding that there is no excuse for anyone to destroy their communities.
“We all want to live in a clean environment and I know first had how annoying it is to come out your gate and black bin bags sitting there. Dublin City Council need to get a handle on this and take action against those doing this,” she stated.
Earlier this year, Councillor O’Reilly commented on Dublin City Council figures highlighting that less than half of the 2,152 fines issued from the start of 2020 to July in 2022 were paid.
The figures revealed a lower rate of conviction, resulting from court closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a bid to tackle dumping issues in the city, councillors voted to remove bin collection from private operators after over a decade in 2019.
Dublin City Council launched a working group to consider the possibility of returning waste collection operations to council staff.
However, in a commissioned Institute of Public Administration report, it was recommended that attemps by the council to re-enter this market would most likely be overturned by the courts.
The report also stated that establishing an exclusive collector for the city would require primary legislation.
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