COUNCILLORS called for a hardline approach to illegal dumpers after it emerged that the Council investigated 509 cases of pollution last year, according to a report presented at the monthly meeting of the local authority on Monday.
In a report on litter pollution in the county given by Liam Quinlan of the Environment Section, 55 on-the-spot litter fines were issued and six prosecutions were taken for the non-payment of fines in 2014.
A number of councillors expressed their dismay at the level of dumping and said more resources were necessary to curb the problem.
Cllr Bobby O’Connell said data should be collected door to door throughout the county, to determine which waste collection service people use.
He said the people who are dumping illegally obviously don’t have a collection service, so those who don’t use a service must be the people responsible.
He said the Council should ask the waste collection services for their database of clients and this should not be a problem because they will benefit them financially in the long run.
Cllr Donal Grady spoke of an eight to ten fold increase in the rodent population in the county and said rats in Killarney were dancing polkas because of the litter pollution problem.
Cllr Niall Kelleher said dog-fouling was such a big problem that, in the same way dogs without leashes are muzzled, we might be going down the road of dogs having ‘nappies’ on them.
Cllr Norma Foley said covert cameras should be used more because they had a good success rate in detecting illegal dumpers.
