Dublin City Council announced plans this week to install overt cameras at Belvedere Place, Sherrard Street Lower, and Summer Street North.
These streets have been identified as some of the worst spots for illegal dumping in the city and are the first locations in a long list where councillors hope CCTV can be installed to catch litter offences.
However, the cameras will only be effective if people are caught dumping waste from a car with a registered number plate.
The council’s litter prevention officer, Bernie Lillis, spoke to councillors at a meeting of the Central Area Committee on Tuesday and mentioned the “limitations” of CCTV in curbing the amount of litter in the city.
“When we do deploy CCTV cameras, it’s important to note it’s not a silver bullet and will not solve all of our illegal dumping problems, but it may act as a deterrent,” she said.
“It will be a problem trying to gather evidence, and I don’t know how many vehicles dump at these locations as we are only able to use the registration number on vehicles.
“We will not be able to use footage of people with bags in their hands that are dumping,” she added.
Ms Lillis also said it would be too difficult to give timelines at present and admitted the process for installing cameras has been slow due to the amount of paperwork necessary to “get it right”.
A number of councillors criticised the delay around the installation of CCTV cameras to tackle illegal dumping, and Ms Lillis assured the committee that it was being treated as a matter of urgency by the two-person team working on the project.
However, Ms Lillis said the project is experiencing delays due to needing approval from different departments.
CCTV had been installed before to tackle illegal dumping in the inner city at various blackspots, working in tandem with the erection of a poster featuring 12 dumpers, with their faces blurred.
The scheme didn’t last long due to concerns raised by the Data Protection Commission around the privacy rights of the illegal dumpers.
Following phase one of this scheme, the council hopes to expand the project to bottle and clothes banks, where there are high levels of illegal dumping.
In a report to councillors, the CCTV project team outlined the steps involved in setting up cameras.
For each proposed location, they need evidence to show the cameras are needed. This includes visiting the site, investigating cases of illegal dumping, and checking records of complaints.
The council then needs to complete a data protection assessment, write a business case, and follow specific procedures before consulting with locals.
All of this paperwork, along with feedback from the community, is sent to the executive manager. If approved, it goes to an oversight board and then to the council’s chief executive for final approval.
Once approved, the council begins the work of installing the CCTV system. In April, they asked companies to bid for the job. Each time the council wants to put cameras up to stop illegal dumping or catch offenders, this process has to be followed.
