Cork County Council picked up more than 86 tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish last year

Fly-tipping on a country road near Charleville (Image: Charleville Notice Board)

A North Cork councillor has called for harsher punishments for fly-tippers after rural areas saw a massive surge in dumping over the Christmas period. Cllr Aileen Browne has suggested that those caught illegally dumping rubbish should be required to perform community service, which would involve cleaning up other dumping sites in addition to the current fines.

Photos shared on social media show the sheer extent of the dumping that has occurred across North Cork in recent weeks, with one particular spot near the Dawn Meats factory in Charleville being absolutely strewn with rubbish after Christmas. Full black rubbish bags have been left rotting in ditches alongside old TVs and other piles of loose litter.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of the Kanturk-Mallow Municipal District, with councillors floating the idea of installing hidden cameras and combing through the bags to try and find something to identify the culprit.

Cllr Aileen Browne described fly-tipping as a ‘scourge’ on the environment, revealing that Cork County Council had cleaned up 86 tonnes of rubbish in the first 9 months of the year.

Fly-tipping on a country road near Charleville (Image: )

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

“It was very obvious around the Christmas period that a significant number of people were basically taking the rubbish out of their homes and dumping it on the side of the road. You’re not talking about one-off pieces of rubbish, you had black rubbish bags and rubbish bins dumped around the country road,” she told Newstalk Breakfast.

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

Fly-tipping on a country road near Charleville (Image: )

Cllr Browne said that while cameras were raised as one possible solution, the council may run into GDPR issues in setting them up, as CCTV needs to be clearly signposted. However, she encouraged motorists who may have caught any evidence of fly-tipping on their dash cam to report it to the authorities.

The Fine Gael councillor said that it has also become increasingly difficult to identify people as households are receiving fewer documents with an address on them in the post. Bills have been used to identify fly-tippers in the past, but as these services move more towards online billing, there are fewer pieces of evidence to use.

Cllr Browne continued: “At our recent meeting in the Kanturk-Mallow district, I did suggest that, in addition to fining the perpetrators, that they also be given community service to actually go out and actually pick up the rubbish.

“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.”