Press Release issued 10^th July 2008

IBAL results for Tallaght July 2008

The determination by the recent IBAL survey that Tallaght is a litter Black Spot is disappointing to South Dublin County Council. Therefore the Council is in the process of implementing a number of measures to mitigate the issues which were highlighted in the survey.

The recent adoption of the Litter Management Plan 2008-2011 along with the restructuring of the Cleansing team will form key components of tackling litter in Tallaght. The Litter Management Plan identifies actions and objectives around prevention, awareness, enforcement, partnership and cleansing which will be progressed systematically to work to achieve a litter free County.In addition South Dublin County Council are looking at the more detailed findings of the survey to ensure that the litter problems in the Tallaght area will be dealt with effectively.

Increased resources have been deployed within the Cleansing team which will facilitate crews covering a greater number of sites and a wider variety of tasks, providing an improved and more frequent cleansing service throughout the County with specific focus on town centres including Tallaght.

South Dublin has handed out 1,430 litter fines in the first six months of 2008 and will continue this level of enforcement to send a clear message that littering cannot be tolerated if we are to keep Tallaght a litter free zone and pleasant place to live and work. South Dublin County Council will also be increasing the number of CCTV bring banks as a deterrent to littering and naming and shaming people who have been prosecuted in court for litter fines in the local press.

Additionally, there has been, and will continue to be engagement with An Taisce, who carry out the survey on behalf of IBAL, to work to improve our status in the survey rankings which will positively impact on the image of Tallaght and the specific sites featured in the survey are being examined with a view to addressing the issues raised.

However in order for Tallaght to achieve the level of Clean to European standards it will be necessary to adapt a joint approach to the situation. It is essential that South Dublin County Council has the full support and involvement of local residents, businesses and schools.

Local residents associations, businesses, schools and youth group have demonstrated their sense of community pride through participation in various council initiatives such as, the Beautiful South Dublin County competition, the Green Schools programme and the Beautiful South Dublin County Schools Competition. In April of this year South Dublin County Council took part in the National Spring Clean campaign which is the biggest anti-litter campaign in Ireland. This year An Taisce registered 192 groups including schools, businesses and residents groups clean ups around the South Dublin County. In addition Killinarden won the Pride of Place competition in 2007. This competition is an All-Ireland competition which recognises improvements by local communities to create civic pride in their areas.

Therefore South Dublin County Council would welcome the opportunity to work in conjunction with the aforementioned groups that are taking action to tackle the issue of litter in their local area. Interested groups can apply for the Anti-Litter Awareness Grant Scheme to support their local positive actions. This grant scheme will be advertised in August.

For further information please contact Sorcha OBrien or Claire Hinch, Environmental Awareness Section, South Dublin County Council.