Minister Naughten said this Monday that his department would make €650,000 available for the new initiative. “Through the deployment of overt and covert surveillance equipment, the use of drone technology and mobile workforce applications, we can make the risk of detection high enough to deter those prepared to engage in this deplorable practice,” he said.

According to the minister, 94% of the 2,250 complaints the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received last year through its See it, Say it mobile app were to report dumping incidents. The app allows members of the public to send a photo and GPS co-ordinates of an environmental complaint.

Minister Naughten wants to fund wider use of similar smart technology by councils and voluntary groups fighting illegal waste disposal. Local authorities can now apply for the grants from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to improve their monitoring of dumping black spots and their response to the problem.

These acts are premeditated, covert, rationalised

“When you look at illegal dumping, it shows these acts are premeditated, covert, rationalised and, in some cases, riddled with false justification,” Minister Naughten said, adding that it posed a risk to valuable tourism business.

“It threatens jobs and income in rural Ireland. It undermines everything that the various agencies promoting Ireland in a post-Brexit Europe are trying to accomplish. Put bluntly, illegal dumping is economic and environmental treason.”

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