CCTV will be introduced to monitor areas of the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains as part of efforts to curb illegal dumping.

The new monitoring projecting will be overseen by the Protecting Uplands & Rural Environments (PURE) Project.

The organisation says it has removed around 3,000 tonnes of litter from the mountains over the last ten years.

Ian Davis, director of PURE, spoke to Pat Kenny about their new project and CCTV plans.

"Last year we had exactly 1,021 individual collections throughout the Wicklow-Dublin uplands," he explained. "You could have anything from one single black bag to 20 black bags to furniture, to fridges, washing machines, couches, toilets, the kitchen sink, cookers, everything.

"Unfortunately some of the most beautiful locations in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands [...] they're the ones that are targeted more than any other location because they're isolated - there's not many people there."

PURE Project is funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment alongside local authorities (including Wicklow, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils) and the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

In recent years, the group has been heavily involved in areas such as education and awareness - but they now say that focus is shifting.

"Now we are refocusing on not just prevention but prosecution," Ian explained, pointing out that some areas of the mountains had been monitored previously. "The finance will be derived from the department and the various other local authorities, and we will take chunks of that finance and put it towards CCTV and surveillance."

He said that they are looking at any potential issues with data protection, and "will be working closely with gardaí on this occasion as well".