Name and shame illegal dumpers

Louth County Council were asked to ‘ name and shame’ illegal dumpers in a bid to tackle the growing problem.

Cllr. John McGahon led the calls saying that stronger measures ‘must be introduced to combat the problem,’ and put it to the council’s monthly meeting that those who ‘ignore or fail to pay their court fines for illegal dumping should be named and shamed.’

‘It’s time to think outside of the box in our efforts to tackle illegal dumping. A ‘ name and shame’ approach may make offenders think twice before engaging in this practise.

For those who fail to pay the fixed penalty notice and are taken to court, their names should be published either on the website of their local authority or in the local newspaper.’

The illegal dumping of rubbish is an issue that plagues both our rural countryside and our urban areas. It’s a source of embarrassment to Local Authorities and the thousands of people across this country who work all year round to keep their communities tidy.

He highlighted one incident recently where a number of bags of rubbish were dumped in Ravensdale, and within which letters containing addressed were visible.

‘At present, if the local authority can establish who owns material that has been illegally dumped, a fixed penalty notice is issued to the person. If they fail to pay this, they are then taken to court and prosecuted for illegal dumping. We have a number of deterrents already in place, and yet we still see illegal dumping on the rise and plaguing local authorities nationwide.’

Cllr. Maeve Yore supported the motion adding: ‘I think we should have zero tolerance for littering and dog poo.’

But she pointed out that she had raised this issue at the recent Dundalk Municipal meeting and was told the local authority could not legally ‘ name and shame’ offenders due to data protection.

Cllr. Peter Savage criticised this, saying that local communities are bearing the brunt of illegal dumping.

He said that only last weekend a caravan filled with rubbish had been dumped in Carrickarnon, an area which is plagued with dumping.

‘It is obvious that people are coming from across the border and dumping.’

Chairman, Cllr. Paul Bell agreed, saying ‘Littering has become epidemic in the county. We seem to be spending a lot of money and resources cleaning up other people’s mess.’

He added: ‘Data protection gives no protection to local communities,’ saying ‘But although I do fully agree with this motion, I do wonder if these people actually can be shamed.’

He said there was concern over people, some of whom are council tenants, who do not have bins at their address.

‘ The question has to be asked, how are they disposing of waste, are they recycling or giving it to someone else?’

Cllr. Mark Dearey highlighted the dumping of mattresses, asking that a day be set aside for people to dispose of unwanted mattresses at a specific spot, so that all or even some of these materials could be recycled.