KERRY County Council will have the power to go door to door to ask every householder how they dispose of their waste from next July if legislation is passed.
The issue arose at the Tralee Municipal District meeting of Kerry County Council on Monday, where Cllr Norma Foley asked the Council if appropriate signage and covert cameras could be put in place on Short Mountain to tackle the serious levels of illegal dumping there.
Director of Services, John Breen, said six cameras are to be purchased in the near future to be used around the county. These cameras will be roving cameras and not fixed in the same spot, but they will definitely be used at the Short Mountain.
During a discussion on the problem of illegal dumping that followed, Cllr Toireasa Ferris referred to Cllr Bobby Buckley’s annual request for the Council to carry out an audit in the county to ask people how and where they dispose of their waste.
Back in the March meeting of Kerry County Council, Cllr Buckley 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.
Responding to Cllr Ferris, John Breen said all of the requests from Cllr O’Connell related to the Council’s own housing stock and they have carried out extensive surveys there.
He said there is primary legislation coming in this autumn that will extend what the Council has been doing to every single household, with effect from July next year and said they will have the power to knock on every door.
Cllr Graham Spring (Lab) said people found guilty should be named and shamed in the local media to act as a deterrent.
Cllr Pa Daly (SF) said there was also a problem with illegal dumping at the bridge over the Big River in Killeen near Na Gaeil GAA club.
Cllr Terry O’Brien said people are too blasé about the problem and the public need to do more to help catch people involved in littering and illegal dumping.
“People need to step up. There’s only a certain amount of resources there [to catch those responsible]. If they see somebody dumping, take the registration of the car,” he said.
Cllr Toireasa Ferris said part of the reason for the rise of illegal dumping is that the local authority got out of public refuse collection.
“People are now in a situation where they can no longer afford the exorbitant cost of the private refuse collection. We have to deal with the communities who can no longer afford to pay the standing charges on top of the collection charges. This local authority has to throw their hands up and say we made the wrong decision and we are partly responsible for the increase in illegal dumping in this county,” said Cllr Ferris.
Cllr Finucane took issue with Cllr Ferris’ comments and said that costs are no excuse for illegal dumping.
“We see the trouble people are going to, to drive their stuff to a rural area and the effort that goes into concealing it and the cost of doing that. There is no excuse for someone who deliberately takes action to illegally dump and destroy our environment,” said Cllr Finucane.
Mayor of Kerry Cllr Pat McCarthy said there are huge savings to be made by recycling properly and said his own household has cut their costs by over half so far this year.