Dublin City Council says its seen an increase in illegal dumping of between 25 and 30 per cent during the Covid-19 crisis.
It comes as €1 million euro of funds from the Anti Dumping Initiative is to be ring-fenced to tackle fly-tipping across the country, during the pandemic.
Environment Minister Richard Bruton says the money will go towards measures including waste removal and the installation of CCTV cameras.
A rise in illegal dumping has been reported in a number of counties including Dublin, Cork and Louth.
Minister Bruton says he is extremely concerned by reports of the increase;
"By providing local authorities with advance funding we will ensure they can respond quickly and decisively."
"Illegal dumping is committed by a minority but it is a scourge on local communities" he went on to say.
Litter Officer with Dublin city council, Bernie Lillis, says crews are out working to remove dumped material;
"We have noticed that there is a huge increase at bring centres that haven't been open, the bottle banks, and the clothes bank there is a huge increase in them in the amount of illegal dumping that is going on at the moment."
Dog poo
She says another problem is dog fouling. The local authority has received a number of complaints recently about people not picking up after their pet.
People are being urged to bag and bin their dog's poo.
