Council should apply for more anti-dumping funding - TD

Illegal dumping on the Curragh and (inset) Deputy Mark Wall.

A call for Kildare County Council to seek a greater share of government funds to tackle illegal dumping has been made by Kildare South TD Mark Wall, writes Brian Byrne. He says the €65,510 sourced for 2024 was one of the lowest figures in the Anti-Dumping Initiative for any county across the country.

Application for funds from the ADI, established in 2017, must be made by individual councils for anti-dumping projects they initiate. In 2024, just two projects — a mattress amnesty and a waste paint amnesty — were organised by Kildare County Council. 

By comparison, Ireland's least-populated county, Leitrim, received €100,451 from the overall fund and their local authority undertook ten projects. Kildare has a population of 247,000 while 35,200 people live in Leitrim. Kildare removed around 60 tonnes of illegal waste while Leitrim recovered 96 tonnes.

Deputy Wall says Kildare County Council must apply for 'a bigger slice of the cake' of national ADI funding, which this year will total €3 million. He describes illegal dumping as a 'scourge on our communities', which drives away tourism and is damaging to the environment. "We need greater collaboration between the council and local communities to identify the necessary initiatives needed to tackle illegal dumping in our towns, villages and green spaces," he says, highlighting consistent black spots in the constituency as Athy and the Curragh.

Since it was established, the ADI is estimated to have led to the removal of some 25,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste from the Irish landscape.

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