Homeowners have a responsibility to ensure their waste is being disposed of legally, Minister for the Environment Denis Naughten has warned.
Litter fines need to be increased substantially and repeat offenders should be dealt with by attachment of earnings, he said.
Speaking at the launch of the anti-dumping awareness campaign for Connacht/Ulster, Mr Naughten said current financial penalties were being increased from €150 to €250, but legislation needed to be strengthened to deal with repeat offenders.
He said the intimidation and verbal abuse of council staff dealing with dumping was unacceptable.
“This isn’t just verbal abuse in relation to littering and relatively small-scale illegal dumping. With some of these large-scale criminal operations, we’re talking about aggression, damage to property and physical assault. We expect, as part of the legal process, that that will be dealt with by the courts and that a clear message will be sent out that anyone interfering with the work of a member of a local authority or the regional waste management offices will be dealt with comprehensively.”
Safer for staff
He said his department was working with the Revenue, An Garda Síochána, and the Department of Social Protection, which would make it safer for staff working on the ground.
“We can deal in a far more comprehensive way with some of the issues being raised by some of these rogue operators.
“These operations range in scale from the ‘man in the white van’ to very, very commercial operations. We will be running an awareness campaign this year, telling people that the responsibility is with the home owner to ensure that their waste is being disposed of properly.
“If someone is offering to get rid of a suite of furniture or a mattress for a price that is far cheaper than it should be, there’s something wrong. If these people don’t have a waste management permit to collect that rubbish, you are committing an offence by giving your rubbish to that individual. If that is found illegally dumped, you could be in a position that you could be prosecuted.”
A pilot in Sligo County Council, where the local authority is requesting customer Eircodes from waste collectors to ensure that people are disposing of their waste responsibly, is intended to be rolled out nationally, he added.
He said people must retain their receipts as proof of how they are disposing of their waste.
“Because of the new regime they will have to show evidence that they are disposing of their waste responsibly. And it is a legal requirement to do so.”
Mr Naughten acknowledged that the timely access to data was an issue for the waste collection industry, and he supported calls for this to be resolved.