Council Briefs: Using CCTV to tackle illegal dumping, and pushing for better parks in Ballymun

Rolling out cameras

What is Dublin City Council planning to do about illegal dumping outside the recycling centre at Finglas Library? asked Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan, at a meeting of the North West Area Committee on 16 July.

The law for CCTV has been updated now and the council is recommending installing cameras in some spots, said Jackie O’Reilly, the Ballymun area manager.

“My understanding is that this is one of the locations,” she said.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said that a new code of practice for the use of CCTV to tackle illegal dumping is now in place.

The council is looking at a number of places including bottle banks, said the spokesperson. As of yet no CCTV cameras have been installed.

Under the code of practice,  the council has to justify the using CCTV at each place to an oversight board. Cameras can only be used to deter and detect illegal dumping.

Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan said that there is a major problem with illegal dumping on the Tolka Valley Road.

He asked if the council could produce a leaflet to show residents how much it is spending to collect rubbish dumped illegally – and what it could do with the money instead.

Said O’Reilly: “We are working on an awareness campaign.”

People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy said that there is repeated dumping of construction waste and other rubbish at two locations near Cairn Court in Ballymun.

Said Callaghan: “We need to have more resources focused on this area to make it a better place to live.”

O’Reilly said the council has hired 32 new general operatives for street cleaning but that the new staff will first be deployed in the city centre. “I’m very hopeful we would get something in phase 2,” she said.

“Every single staff member that comes into waste management will be incredibly positive for the cleanliness of the city,” says Bruce Phillips, director of services with Dublin City Council. “It will make a big impact.”

The council is doing several rounds of recruitment, he said, and he hopes it will hire 40 more people by the end of August.

“I’ve given a commitment here in a previous meeting that any resources given to the outer suburbs that Ballymun would be first,” said Phllips. “Because there are particular challenges here and I want to see them tackled and I want to see the area cleaned up.”

Revamping parks in Ballymun

Councillors at the 16 July meeting also tabled motions calling for the upgrade of Northway Park and Shangan Park in Ballymun – although the council response, issued by Stephen Groome, executive parks and landscape officer, didn’t commit to improve Shangan.

Connaghan, the Sinn Féin councillor, who chairs the committee, called on the manager to upgrade Northway Park to its full potential.

Groome said in the response that the council has upgraded the main entrance recently and plans to do more works.

“The plan is to continue to add to this pathway to create a full perimeter pathway route in the coming years, additional planting and amenities will be introduced, subject to available budget,” says the response.

Reddy, the People Before Profit councillor, asked that the council prioritise the Northway Park in its budget.

Sinn Féin Councillor Leslie Kane also tabled a motion calling on the council to upgrade Shangan Park, and perhaps put in a playground for families and to deter anti-social behaviour.

The council doesn’t have plans for that park, said the response from Groome in the parks department, but it is planning to upgrade playgrounds at Poppintree and Coultry.

“There is no funding or plans for any immediate works at Shangan but we will review this in the context of the 2025 estimates,” it says.

Kane wasn’t happy with that. “There is anti-social constantly in it, for many years we have been promised something would be done,” she said.

Open drug dealing in the park day and night means families with children cannot use it, she said.

O’Reilly, the Ballymun area manager, said the council has planned a fun day for Shangan Park, and she is happy to meet interested residents, but that other works are taking priority.

“We have totally revamped Balcurris Park in the last 24 months,” she said.

Shangan Park used to have playground equipment but it was taken out after repeated vandalism, said O’Reilly. The council has to decide which parks to prioritise and it does that depending on the number of children using them, she said.

Kane asked if it would be possible to get a food truck. O’Reilly said it doesn’t have enough footfall for a business to want to open there – but she is trying to get one for Poppintree.

Phillips said the council’s parks department is committed to improving the Northway Park and suggested that councillors consider using some of their discretionary fund to improve Shangan Park.

The discretionary fund is a pot of money that councillors get to choose how to spend each year in their areas.

Phillips also suggested that the councillors put together proposals for grants from the central government’s Sports Capital Programme ahead of the next funding round, which they said they would do.