Dublin Corporation today launched a £3.5 million anti-litter campaign which will see the arrival of 12 new litter wardens onto the streets of the city over the next three years.
Last year 16,500 people were fined for littering with payments amounting to £300,000.
According to the Lord Mayor Mr Maurice Ahern, Dublin Corporation will continue to enforce the litter laws with the help of 32 litter wardens - increased from the 20 currently operating.
The cost of "Operation Clean Up", part of the Dublin Waste Plan, will be in addition to the existing £16 million budget to keep Dublin tidy.
The project will also receive an extra £1 million in the next six months to position 2,000 new litter bins around the city and purchase seventeen new street cleaning machines.
The plan is expected to ensure that litter bins in high density pedestrian zones will be emptied every hour and suburban villages such as Ranelagh will receive additional cleaning services to manage litter arising from late-night and weekend shoppers. Up until now street cleaning in these areas has operated on a five-day working week.
Launching the campaign today the Mr Ahern said the success of the plan, depended on the co-operation of the public and a general awareness of the litter problem in the city.
"While public awareness of waste problems and litter has never been more in the public consciousness, we need a sustained public awareness campaign to highlight that littering is anti-social and that the £16 million spent on cleaning public areas in Dublin could be put to better use," he said.