Litter wardens that challenge litter louts in blackspots are at risk of being the victim of a "serious assault", Dublin City Council boss Owen Keegan has said.
Dublin's north inner city was named Ireland's 'litter blackspot' in a survey released in January.
The country's latest litter league, compiled by the Irish Business Against Litter, lists the north inner city bottom of 40 areas across Ireland for rubbish.
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Problem areas include Spencer Dock, where “fencing, old bicycles and discarded domestic items” were all found in the water, and Crinian Strand, where “huge swathes of all manner of litter were strewn along the pavement, along with bags of rubbish”.
The Chief Executive of the Local Authority told councillors from the North Central Area Committee the system to tackle littering "doesn't work".
He said: "The reality is the system of enforcement doesn’t work."
“We don’t have a right to require people to identify themselves or prove the identity they give us. The people involved in serious dumping when they are tackled by a litter warden just give us an incorrect name and that’s the end of it, because there is nothing we can do.”
Mr Keegan added that he isn't comfortable sending litter wardens into litter black spots as they are at risk of being attacked.
He said: “In the really serious black spots we have had an issue about serious assaults on litter wardens when they challenged people. It is very difficult for me to put people into a situation where there is a high risk they will be assaulted.”
Local authorities will be allowed to use CCTV to combat fly-tipping under legislation approved by the Cabinet which is expected to come into force by the end of the year.
Mr Keegan said the new legislation "may help us identify people all right, it may be that there will be an improvement in the enforcement options, but short of having Garda Siochana accompany us, it is difficult. It’s a very frustrating experience."
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