Illegal dumping of rubbish costs council €1m per year

People dumping rubbish illegally is costing Dublin City Council more than €1m every year, new figures show

People dumping rubbish illegally is costing Dublin City Council more than €1m every year, new figures show.

The local authority collected and disposed of almost 4,000 tonnes of such rubbish in 2019.

While DCC issued fines totalling almost €260,000 to suspected dumpers, less than half of it has been paid.

Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan, who obtained the figures, said the €4m spent on dealing with this scourge over the last four years could have paid for 146 extra youth workers.

Illegal dumping is a costly crime. And you pay for it. Costing @DubCityCouncil €4m since 2016. That's 146 extra youth workers or 141 cleansing staff. If you see it. Report it 01 222 2222 or [e-mail] pic.twitter.com/cl3elJVqD9

— Cllr. Daithí Doolan (@DaithiDoolan) December 19, 2020

"Illegal dumping is a costly crime, costing Dublin City residents over €1m every year,” he said. “This is a serious strain on already overstretched resources.” 

He said: “Dublin City Council collected and disposed of 3,965 tonnes of illegal dumping in 2019. The bill is coming to €1,170,728. This is a massive increase of €174,065 since 2016.” The councillor for the Ballyfermot-Drimnagh electoral area said the council needed to take “serious action” against those involved in the dumping.

“Fines totalling €257,430 were issued since 2018,” he said. “This is a drop in the ocean.” He said that most of these fines were not being paid, with €144,150 (56%) still outstanding.

"Over €4m has been spent in cleaning up illegal dumping since 2016,” Cllr Doolan said. “This money would be better spent on City Council services.

“It would cover the cost of 146 extra youth workers or 107 librarians or 141 cleansing staff.” 

"Those involved in illegal dumping are breaking the law and costing Dublin millions. They should be vigorously pursued through the courts and forced to cover the costs of the multi million clean up operation."

Report dumping in Dublin here or Cork City here.