Tallaght Councillor Charlie O’Connor recently requested an update on the plan to deal with litter and graffiti in the community. The query said “That this Council calls on the Chief Executive to publish an updated plan to deal with the Litter/Graffiti issue which is of great concern to communities throughout our County; does he have a view on the recent statements of IBAL in the matter; will he state the amount of fines for Litter/Graffiti abuses collected since January and will he make a statement?”
The reply received said “The South Dublin County Council Litter Management Plan 2020-2022 adopted by the Members proposes to address the negative impact of litter on our county, improve the quality of life and sense of wellbeing of our residents and enhance our commercial and tourism potential. This is achieved through 1. Communication, Education and Awareness, 2. Enforcement of Legislation and Regulation and 3. Management and maintenance of our Public Realm. A comprehensive Implementation Action Plan is developed for each year of the lifetime of the Litter Management Plan. Monitoring and evaluation of the Annual Plans is reported to the Area Committees. The first report on the current plan was presented to the Area Committees at their meetings held in September 2020. The 2020 IBAL report noted that the Tallaght area has come a long way in recent years, ranking 7 of the 10 areas surveyed as either at A or B Grades. The report particularly noted the “improvement at Tallaght Library / Alexandra House and Environs compared to last year at this time around it was deserving of the top litter grade”. In relation to the Tallaght By-Pass it found that “A very good impression was created travelling along this busy route”. The report also noted the presence of three localised litter blackspots, which it is intended to address through the use of increased monitoring, inspections and through the regular removal of litter in those areas”.
The reply concluded with “Up to the end of September, The Litter Warden Service has responded to 2,846 reports, received through customer care, fix your street and members’ reps, of littering & illegal dumping, including 159 reports related to Graffiti. Each of these reports was investigated and appropriate action taken. During this period 244 Fines and Notices were issued”.
