‘Dramatic increase’ in littering and dumping in north Dublin

Fingal County Council has said it is "alarmed" at what it described as a "dramatic increase this week in littering and dumping" in public spaces across the local authority.

The council is appealing to park and beach users to respect public health guidelines, and also to take their litter home. The chief executive of Fingal County Council and its director of operations met with senior gardaí on Thursday to raise their concerns. Gardaí agreed to increase patrols across the county, and also appealed to people to stay within 5km of their homes.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Eoghan O’Brien said recent incidents, especially in coastal areas, are “causing concern”.

"I would appeal to people to remember we are still in the middle of a pandemic and that public health guidelines in relation to social distancing and travel are still in place. Those guidelines must be respected, even on a Bank Holiday weekend with nice weather, because lives are at stake," he said.

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The chief executive of Fingal County Council, Ann Marie Farrelly, said: "We will be working very closely with An Garda Síochána over the weekend and will be ready to act on their advice if we have incidents of overcrowding or anti-social behaviour."

Fingal County Council's Director of Operations, David Storey, said the council is concerned about people entering parks after closing time, and said that park rangers have found "significant levels of littering and dumping taking place overnight".

“Our parks close at 9pm each evening and the gardaí will have extra night-time patrols over the weekend to prevent gatherings at night. We work hard to maintain our parks to a high standard but we need people to act responsibly and safely, especially at this time because of Covid-19,” he said.