Wexford residents fear ‘intimidation and threats’ if they report dumping and ‘don’t want to have to go court’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

People across Co Wexford are not reporting cases of illegal dumping due to a fear of being “intimidated or threatened” by the alleged culprit. Such is the level of fear of appearing in court and giving a witness statement that many of those who see dumping in their area are choosing to ignore it.

However, Wexford County Council (WCC) is taking a proactive approach to fly-tipping and illegal dumping and, in some cases, can issue fines without a statement from the member of the public.

At the November meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD) Councillor Bridín Murphy asked for some clarity regarding the council’s methods of prosecution for illegal dumping.

“In recent weeks I have come across three or four cars dumping rubbish illegally, what measures does the council have in place to identify households that don’t have an authorised waste collection service?” she asked. “The public are reluctant to report illegal dumping because they don’t want to have to go to court. Some feel they may be intimidated or threatened if they have to do that. Can the council take these cases on their behalf?”

Melissa Goff of WCC’s environmental department said her team took a “two-pronged approach” to illegal dumping.

“We can survey an entire area and check the waste providers there to see who does and doesn’t have an active contract, if they don’t have an active provider they may be utilising other means,” she said. “In that instance, we would write to them and ask them to inform us how they dispose of their waste and if there’s no response we issue a fine. If someone complains about a particular individual we take a similar approach and send them a letter, and we follow up until we get an appropriate answer.”

In terms of public reporting, Ms Goff said there were two types of cases.

“If a member of the public has seen rubbish being thrown out of a vehicle and they take down the registration number they would have to fill out a witness statement. However, if there’s bags dumped at the side of the road, and someone reported it to us, as long as they don’t physically interfere with the bags or touch the evidence, they won’t have to appear (in court).”

However, Cllr John Fleming revealed that he had taken it upon himself to deal with illegal dumping in his parish, acting as a middleman for those worried about court appearances.

“If someone sees dumping I ask them to report it to me and I check it myself before the evidence is gone,” he said. “I will put myself forward to go to court and have helped get 20 summonses sent out, there’s nothing as dirty as someone dumping their rubbish in the countryside, why should they be allowed to do this?”

While this approach had proved effective in Cllr Fleming’s constituency, not everyone was willing to rummage through bags which could contain all manner of contaminants.

“I personally won’t go through rubbish, t’s quite naive to be doing that,” said Cllr Murphy. “I have young children, I don’t want to be pricked by a needle. It’s best left to our staff who have the proper equipment to deal with syringes.

“I carefully go through it, that’s why it’s stopped in my area,” replied Cllr Fleming. “I won’t let people dump on my doorstep.”

Meanwhile, some of those who are disposing of their waste correctly are being issued with fines for not removing their bins in a timely fashion.

“We’re tackling the issue of bins being left out on the streets for days,” said district manager Alan Fitzhenry. “It’s problematic for people with disabilities and the elderly. People are supposed to leave their bin out on bin day and bring it back in the next day, we’ve already issued two notices in the town in relation to this.”