LITTER POLLUTION ACT, 1997

26. — Where the contents of litter that has been deposited in contravention of this Act or of municipal waste that has been placed in contravention of section 3(3) gives rise to a reasonable suspicion as to the identity of the person from whom the litter or waste emanated, the contents shall, in a prosecution of the person for an offence under this Act, constitute evidence, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the litter or waste emanated from the person before the deposit or placement and that the person made the contravening deposit or placement.

27. Vehicle related offences.

27. — (1) Where a mechanically propelled vehicle, other than a large public service vehicle within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, is used in the commission of an offence under this Act—

• (a) the registered owner of the vehicle,

• (b) if the vehicle is the subject of a hire-drive agreement at the time of the commission of the offence, the person who hired the vehicle, and

• (c) if the person using the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence is not the registered owner or the person who hired the vehicle, the person using the vehicle at that time,

or each of them severally shall be guilty of an offence, whether or not any other of them is prosecuted and convicted for the offence.

• (2) If the person charged with an offence under subsection (1) is the registered owner of the vehicle concerned, it shall be a defence for the person to show that, at the time of the commission of the offence, the vehicle was being used by another person and that—

• (a) such use was unauthorised, or

• (b) the vehicle was at that time the subject of a hire-drive agreement.

• (3) If the person charged with an offence under subsection (1) is the person to whom the vehicle concerned stood hired under a hire-drive agreement at the time of the commission of the offence, it shall be a defence for the person to show that, at the time, the vehicle was being used by another person and that such use was unauthorised.

28. Notice of certain offences may be given by litter wardens, etc.

28. — (1) If a litter warden or a member of the Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed a prescribed offence under this Act, or a dog warden, within the meaning of the Control of Dogs Act, 1986, or a member of the Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed an offence under section 22, the warden or member may give to the person a notice in prescribed form stating—

• (a) that the person is alleged to have committed the offence,

• (b) that the person may during the period of 21 days beginning on the date of the notice, make to the local authority specified in the notice a payment of F18[€150] accompanied by the notice, and

• (c) that a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice and, if the payment specified in the notice is made during that period, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will be instituted.

• (2) Where a notice is given under subsection (1) —

• (a) a person to whom the notice applies may, during the period specified in the notice, make to the local authority specified in the notice the payment specified in the notice, accompanied by the notice,

• (b) the local authority shall receive the payment and issue a receipt for it and may retain the money so paid for disposal in accordance with this Act, and no payment so received shall in any circumstances be recoverable by the person who made it, and

• (c) a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence shall not be instituted in the period specified in the notice and, if the payment specified in the notice is made during that period, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence shall be instituted.

• (3) In a prosecution for an offence referred to in subsection (1), the onus of showing that a payment pursuant to a notice under this section has been made shall lie on the accused.

• (4) F19[…]

PART VI General

29. Minister may issue directions and guidelines, etc.

29. — (1) The Minister may issue policy directions to any local authority in respect of the application and carrying out of the provisions of this Act where the Minister is of the opinion that the local authority should follow such directions in order to effectively exercise its functions under this Act.

• (2) The Minister shall prepare and issue to local authorities guidelines and criteria in relation to the prevention and control of litter, including guidelines and criteria on appropriate objectives to be specified by local authorities under section 11 (2).

• (3) The Minister may revoke or amend any direction, guideline or criteria issued under this section.

• (4) The Minister shall cause a notice of every policy direction issued to a local authority under subsection (1) to be published at least once in a newspaper circulating in the functional area of the local authority.

• (5) A local authority shall—

• (a) in performing its functions under this Act, have regard to any policy direction issued to it under subsection (1), and

• (b) in the making of its litter management plan under section 10 and in performing its functions under this Act, have regard to the guidelines and criteria issued to it under subsection (2).

30. Extension of purposes for which regulations under Waste Management Act, 1996, may be made.

30. — The purposes for which regulations under sections 28 and 29 of the Waste Management Act, 1996, may be made shall include the purposes of preventing, minimising or controlling litter under this Act.

31. Regulations.

31. — (1) The Minister may make regulations prescribing any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or as may be prescribed and for the purposes of enabling any provision of this Act to have full effect.

• (2) Any such regulation may be made to apply to local authorities generally, to any class of local authority or to a particular local authority.

• (3) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

32. Service of notices.

32. — (1) Any notice required to be served or given by or under this Act shall be addressed to the person concerned and served or given in one of the following ways—

• (a) by addressing it to the person by name and delivering it to the person,

• (b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides,

• (c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to the person at the address at which the person ordinarily resides,

• (d) if an address for the service of notices has been furnished by the person, by leaving it at, or sending it by prepaid registered post addressed to the person to, that address, or

• (e) where the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and notice is required to be served on, or given to, the person in respect of any premises, by delivering it to a person over the age of 16 years of age resident in or employed on the premises, or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near the premises.

• (2) Where the name of the person concerned cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, a notice under this Act may be addressed to “the occupier”, “the owner” or “person in charge”, as the case may be.

• (3) For the purposes of this section, a company registered under the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1990, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

• (4) A person shall not at any time during the period of 3 months after a notice is affixed under subsection (1)(e) remove, damage or deface the notice without lawful authority.

• (5) A person who contravenes subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence.

33. Expenses.

33. — (1) The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

• (2) Expenses under this Act of a local authority being the council of a county shall be charged on the county, exclusive of any borough or urban district therein.

34. Disposition of moneys received by local authorities.

34. — Moneys received by a local authority under this Act shall be lodged, in the case of a local authority that is—

• (a) the corporation of a county or other borough or the council of an urban district, to the credit of the municipal fund of the county borough, borough or urban district, or

• (b) the council of a county, to the credit of the county fund,

and may be expended for the same purposes as other moneys credited to that fund.

PART VII Related and Consequential Amendments and Commencement

35. Amendment and repeal of certain enactments.

35. — (1) The Local Government Act, 1994, is hereby amended—

• (a) in section 37(3) by the deletion of paragraphs (b) and (c),

• (b) by the substitution of “ £1,500 ” for “ £1,000” —

• (i) in paragraph (i) of section 37(4),

• (ii) in section 40(1), and

• (iii) in paragraph (c) of section 40(4), and

• (c) in section 40, by the substitution of the following for subsection (10):

“In this section 'authorised person' means a person authorised in writing by a local authority for the purpose of this section or, except in the case of subsection (5), a member of the Garda Síochána.”.

• (2) Paragraph (a) of section 17(2) of the Control of Dogs Act 1986, is hereby repealed.

• (3) The Litter Act, 1982, is hereby repealed.

36. Commencement.

36. — This Act shall come into operation on such day as may be fixed by order of the Minister, and different days may be so fixed for different provisions and for different purposes.