‘Long-awaited’ legislation to allow CCTV use to combat illegal dumping of waste is ‘on the way’ according to local TD

“Long-awaited” legislation to allow County Councils to use CCTV cameras to combat illegal dumping of waste in local areas is “on the way” according to Laois Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley.

Local authorities, including Laois County Council, had been using CCTV cameras until recent years, when new Data Protection regulations (GDPR) came into place.

Now, Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications has confirmed that the necessary legislation has now been drafted to change these laws.

Deputy Stanley said that since the Councils were prevented from using CCTV cameras, “widespread dumping of waste has taken place across the constituency, some of this has been on a commercial scale.”

The Sinn Féin TD said that these changes forced the responsibility onto the ordinary people of Laois.

“Local communities along with councils in Laois/Offaly had to clean it up. Regrettably, a lot of this waste is recyclable and could have been disposed of by the perpetrators at little or no cost,” Deputy Stanley said.

“The fact that local authorities had their hands tied and prevented from using CCTV type devices has been very frustrating for residents’ groups and people living in rural areas.

“It has also put additional costs on Councils to remove the waste.

“I have been raising this consistently throughout the past three years with the Minister for Environment and also the Taoiseach.

“The up to date reply I have received state that there is long awaited movement at last on this issue.

“The Minister set out in reply to a Parliamentary Question that he has approved the necessary codes for local County Councils.

“The final step in the process is to commence the relevant provisions of the Act. The commencement order is currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Councel (OPC) and it is expected that this will be signed shortly.

“I look forward to Councils being able to erect cameras to stamp out dumping.”

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