Camera and drone use to catch dumpers put on hold in Laois and other counties over data rules

Privacy and data protection rules have halted the use of CCTV by Laois County Council to prosecute fly tippers and other rubbish dumpers.

Donal Brennan, one of the council's Director of Services, confirmed that under litter pollution legislation Laois County Council has used CCTV to police the dumping of rubbish.

He said the council's environmental section had deployed cameras to police the legislation. He said such locations included bottle banks.

He also confirmed that the council had acted as data controller for the images and content gathered in limited situations, such as illegal waste disposal.

“We had a legal duty on how we handled that data (images),” he told the Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District meeting.

Now, however, issues have arisen with this.

“The Data Protection Commissioner has formed a view that the protections given to local authorities under the litter and waste acts are not sufficient and we need to find some alternative legal authorisation to collect CCTV data from locations,” he said.

He also replied to Cllr Padraig Fleming who asked if this means the council cannot fine people for dumping.

“We are in a position to send out fines if we can collect evidence and there are different ways to collect evidence,” he replied.

Mr Brennan said a legal case is underway in another part of Ireland.

“I am aware of a local authority in the south of the country which is in the middle of a legal case over this,” he said.

He added that another local authority is trying to clarify the situation with the commissioner following an audit.

Mr Brenann told Cllr Aisling Moran that the collection of data is the end of a process which begins with the legal power to gather data via CCTV.

In a written reply to the same councillors in September Laois and other local authorities Mr Donal Brennan and Mr Simon Walton, Directors of Services issued a joint statement.

“Significantly with regard to litter management, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) has recently issued an opinion that the local authorities do not have a legal basis under the Litter Pollution and Waste Management Acts for the use of drones, overt and covert CCTV systems etc, in their surveillance of areas subject to littering and illegal dumping areas,” they wrote.

The directors said the Local Government Managers Association is to make a submission to the Commission to show that local authorities are entitled to use recording devices to prevent, detect and prosecute waste management legislation breaches.