'New drag' on way for smokers with curbs outside pub
Tuesday April 22 2008
SMOKERS who throw their butts on pavements outside pubs are being targeted in a new crackdown in the capital.
And discarded packaging from takeaways will also be the focus on new by-laws being planned by Dublin City Council.
Since the 2004 smoking ban, cigarette butts have become a major problem, and now account for some 56pc of all litter.
Assistant City Manager Matt Twomey said the new laws aimed to prevent and control litter in the vicinity of businesses that generate it.
"Our experience from both our street-cleaning operations and from litter surveys is that takeaway premises are very high generators of litter.
"It is also the case that cigarette litter is a major problem in the vicinity of licensed premises," he says in a report to councillors.
The new by-laws would mean that pubs and takeaways would have to ensure a 50 metre area around their premises was kept free of litter and stains.
They would also have to monitor the area "at least once during each hourly period during opening hours".
They would have to provide an agreed number of bins and a roster and checklist system of emptying them and maintaining them would also have to be agreed with the council.
Written details of cleaning schedules would have to retained for inspection in the pubs and takeaways for a month.
Packaging from the takeaways, including chip and sandwich vans, would have to clearly bear their name and address.
Following months of consultations with advertising industry, the council also plans to bring in a new "protocol" on the distribution of advertising materials which Mr Twomey says is also a significant litter generator.
Necessary
The protocol will be a short-term measure. "It is felt that by-laws are necessary in the longer term to give the controls the force of law."
The protocol means that distributors of flyers would have to have a €250 permit, a litter plan to cover a 100 metre radius from the distribution point and, if there is litter afterwards, they would pay the cost of the council's clean-up operation.
Distribution of flyers will be completely banned in O'Connell Street, Henry Street and Grafton Street.
The new laws would be enforced by on-the-spot fines of €75, a fine of up to €1,900 on conviction if the issue goes to court and a €127 per day fine if the offences continue.
Councillors will consider the new laws at a committee meeting tomorrow.
- Andrew Bushe
