TD for Dublin Mid West, Emer Higgins welcomes the announcement from the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton that €1m of funds from the Anti-Dumping Initiative will be ring-fenced to support efforts to tackle a reported increase in illegal dumping during the current Covid 19 crisis. Waste removal and the installation of CCTV or other monitoring and surveillance equipment will be among the activities supported.
“There has been a noticeable increase in reports of illegal dumping during the Covid crisis. Providing local authorities with advance funding we will ensure that they can respond quickly and decisively” said Higgins.
Since the introduction of the Anti-Dumping Initiative in 2017, funding of €6.3 million has been provided which has supported over 700 projects across all 31 local authorities and removed 10,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste. This is in addition to the €7.4m annual enforcement grant, which supports the recruitment and retention of 150 local authority waste enforcement personnel across the country. “I will be strongly advocating that South Dublin County Council receives an adequate portion of this funding to tackle illegal dumping in Lucan, Palmerstown, Clondalkin and our smaller villages” concluded Higgins
