People who illegally dump rubbish should be made to go litter picking as punishment, a Fine Gael Councillor has argued. 

Aileen Browne represents Charleville in Cork and denounced illegal dumping as a  “scourge on the environment” that has become a huge problem in the county. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Cllr Browne explained that she was determined to tackle the problem. 

 “Over the Christmas period, we did notice a significant increase in the amount of fly tipping going on around our country roads,” she said.

“And talking to my colleagues across the country, it's not just particular to North Cork, it's something that's affecting the whole country.” 

Illegal dumping in Connemara. Picture by: Alamy.

Cllr Browne added that people who dump rubbish on the side of the road are not doing it as a “one off” and that their behaviour is costing local authorities huge sums to deal with. 

“Even just looking at figures up to the end of September of 2025, Cork County Council collected 86 tonnes of dumped rubbish,” she said. 

“I mean, that just shows you there's a huge cost element in collecting that - both in the staffing hours and also in the actual having to dispose of it properly.”

Illegal dumping. Picture by: Alamy.com/osheaphotography.com. 

One possible deterrent would be CCTV cameras in areas where illegal dumping takes place; however, Cllr Browne believes that might not be possible because of GDPR. 

“It has to be advertised that there actually is CCTV there at the time,” she said. 

“But I would be calling on motorists who are passing these black spots to maybe look if they have dash cam; look at the footage. Maybe there's something coming up in the footage that can be used?”

Flytipped waste on the side of a road in Dublin. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

For those individuals who are caught dumping, Cllr Browne said fines are no longer enough. 

“At our recent meeting in the Kanturk-Mallow district, I did suggest that in addition to fining the perpetrators, that they'd also be giving community service to actually go out and actually pick up the rubbish,” she said. 

“You know, hit them where it hurts; it's all well and good just fining them - and the spot fine is about €150 - but actually make them do community service and actually feel the effect and see the damage that they're causing.”

Main image: A woman litter picking. Picture by: Alamy.com.