Council issued 52 fines for littering offences last year

Meath County Council issued 52 fines for littering last year, of which 31 were paid, councillors have been told.

Fine Gael Cllr Noel French had asked for the number of fines issues, and how many were paid.

He also asked how many fines had been issued for dog fouling and how many of these had been paid.

The cllr also asked how much the council was planning to spend on litter and dumping prevention and remediation this year.

Officials replied that 18 fined for littering had been written off or waived following appeals or advice from the council legal advisors.

The reduction in fines from previous years was due to a number of factors including the initiation of education and awareness campaigns relating to dumping at the council’s bottle banks and a successful campaign targeting the erection of unauthorised commercial advertising signs throughout the county.

"The council’s Green Kilometre scheme which commits individuals or groups to maintaining a kilometre or longer stretch of local road free of litter over the course of a year proved to be highly successful in the fight against litter with over 230 individuals or groups participating.

Incentives of some native trees, litter pickers, bags and gloves were provided to all participating individuals and groups," the councillors were told.

No dog fouling fines were issued last year. The officials said there were difficulties associated with enforcement of provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 which provided the legal basis for such fines.

The law provided that the dog warden must witness an incident and the dog must be connected to the person at the time. Members of the public did report dog fouling incidents but were often reluctant to give evidence if the case went to court.

The council intends to spend €845,981 on litter-associated measures this year – €253,144 on provision of waste to collection services; €592,837 on litter management.