The litter strewn along our city streets is a national scandal.
So declared Fianna Fail in an uncompromising election manifesto back in 1997. The party, now in Government, is about to get an up-front reminder of its outspokenness.
A billboard advertising campaign centring on that Fianna Fail declaration is about to hit the streets of Dublin and Cork, as some of the State's leading businesses attempt to shame the Government into implementing the 1997 Litter Pollution Act.
The Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) initiative reminded the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, yesterday it was two years since the Act was brought into force, "yet it's clear that many of its main provisions are simply being ignored by the enforcement authorities - local authorities and the gardai".
The IBAL chairman, Dr Tom Cavanagh, criticised semi-state companies, notably CIE, for being among the worst offenders. The Act makes businesses and householders responsible for keeping their adjoining streets and roadways clear of litter. "It is patently obvious that these provisions are not being enforced anywhere."
He accepted the National Anti-Litter Forum, set up by the Minister, was a worthy undertaking but noted ail manifesto it was emerging two years after the manifesto. While the Government might point to a significant increase in litter summonses issued recently by local authorities and the presence of more litter wardens, this was coming from a low base. "Furthermore, they bear no relationship to the appalling scale of the current litter problem." IBAL noted that 24 local authorities issued no prosecutions/ on-the-spot fines in a six-month period last year. Nonetheless, it is to spend £300,000 over three years in rewarding the best authorities on the enforcement scale.
Schools, Mr Cavanagh said, were among the worst offenders, while fast-food outlets, which are responsible for litter control within 100 metres in any direction from their premises, were being subjected to derisory fines.
"The gospel, according to IBAL, is: it all hinges on enforcement," he declared. This did not mean a police-state attitude underpinned by zero tolerance but a sense of offenders being subjected to the litter equivalent of car clamping would help, combined with regular high-profile anti-litter blitzes.
He suspected gardai did not want to have a role in enforcing the Act. But IBAL could not get an indication from Mr Dempsey, he said, as to whether they would be fulfilling such a role.
