Kerry County Council should name and shame people found guilty of illegal dumping.
A number of councillors called for the names of people, who’re convicted of illegal dumping in court, to be provided in a bid to clamp down on fly-tipping.
Kerry County Council received 720 complaints relating to litter and illegal dumping last year; it issued 109 litter fines and from these, 13 prosecutions were initiated during 2022.
The council’s three litter wardens collected 2,311 bags of clean up waste during 2022.
The figures were contained in the Litter Pollution Report 2022, which was presented by Director of Services with the council, Paul Neary at the monthly meeting.
Fianna Fáil councillor Jimmy Moloney asked if the 13 people convicted of illegal dumping could be named and shamed; he feels it would deter others from dumping illegally, adding currently people found guilty are just an anonymous stat.
His call for the council to name those convicted in court was supported by other councillors, with council management asked to at least provide the names from successful convictions to councillors.
Director of Services with Kerry County Council, Christy O‘Connor says the council previously got advice on the issue of naming those convicted of illegal dumping.
He says the information is held by the Courts Service and isn’t the council’s information to give out; he says councillors would become data controllers and would have to abide by legislation as to how they’d use this data, if it was passed on to them.
Mr O’Connor added that reporters, who are in court on the day of prosecutions, can publish people’s names in local media.
Independent councillor Jackie Healy-Rae questioned how the names and address can be printed by the media, and said it sounds like there’s no rule in place but rather an unwillingness by the council to do it.
Christy O’Connor stated court reporters have a specific role in terms of reporting on cases, but said the council doesn’t have a role when it comes to such reporting and it’s not something it can take on.
Cllr Healy-Rae also raised the issue of CCTV and he and fellow councillors hit out at data protection rules, saying they are hindering the use of CCTV around to combat illegal dumping; Independent councillor Niall Botty O'Callaghan stated CCTV means nothing to people who have nothing to hide.
