NAME AND SHAME! Council aware of 'black economy' rubbish collectors

With 18 litter or dumping related cases in the local courts’ system at present, Cavan County Council has said it is aware of a number of so-called ‘black economy’ operators providing waste disposal services throughout the county.
Elected members were told at their monthly meeting last week that between last year and to date in 2016, there have been 265 incidents of litter or illegal dumping reported to the local authority.
Director of Services Ger Finn said: “We are aware of a number of operators operating beneath the law.” He further revealed that at least one prosecution is being brought in this regard.

‘Name and shame’
Over €500,000 has been spent on litter and waste management in the county in recent years, and Mr Finn stated: “The issue is that people do not report. They don’t want to be seen reporting on their neighbours. It’s very difficult to catch these people otherwise but we have to get these reports, that’s the ideal way to catch and prosecute offenders.”
He further noted there were data protection issues both with regard to posting offender details and also with erecting cameras at littering black-spots, where signage notifying of filming taking place also had to be put in place.
Mr Finn was responding to calls for the council to do more to tackle the issue of illegal dumping in the county, on foot of a motion initially brought before the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District meeting by Fianna Fáil’s Philip Brady, but for it to be deemed a countywide matter.
“There are people out there going around the roads and dumping their rubbish showing blatant disregard for the county. It’s a huge problem and it’s getting worse. It’s one that us as councillors are sick hearing about and, for us, nothing seems to have been done to stop it,” he said.
Calling for a ‘name and shame’ campaign for those convicted, he stated: “People get away very handy. Give them a big fine or mention their name in the paper, that’d put a stop to it.”

Widespread support
The motion was supported throughout the chamber by Fine Gael’s Paddy O’Reilly who claimed the rubbish left behind by young people leaving late night takeaways is “terrible”, to Winston Bennet (FG) who noted the smoking ban had its own ill effects of butts littering the outside of bars and clubs.
Paddy Smith (FG) said he “could not understand” why people dumped large household goods down lay-bys and side roads when the council’s bring centres offered highly competitive rates for disposal.
He furthermore called for the appointment of more litter wardens and for them to be applied to the task of sifting through illegally dumped rubbish bags to seek out any detail that may link it back to the owner.
Others who backed the motion included Sinn Féin’s Noel Connell and Fianna Fáil’s Sean Smith.