ENVIRONMENT minister John Gormley has been criticised for banning moves to print the names and addresses of 'litter louts' in newspapers.

The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government has contacted every local authority telling them the policy would be illegal, despite perceptions that such a deterrent would inspire people to clean up their acts.

While it is unclear exactly how many councils planned to adopt the policy – which would have included 'name and shame' sections on websites and in local media – they have now been told to dump the idea.

The direction has attracted criticism from advocates of the proposed system.

County managers were told that the publication of names and addresses in newspapers – referring to advertising paid for by authorities as opposed to local court reports – would be in breach of data protection legislation.

By law, the names and addresses of people convicted of offences before the courts is publicly accessible information.

Such a policy by local authorities would breach section 2A of the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003.

"It is further recommended that any such material currently on local authorities' websites should be removed immediately and that no further publication should take place," the letter stated.

Fine Gael councillor Kieran Dennison, whose proposal for just such a move was adopted in Fingal, north Dublin, rounded on Gormley.

"This is an example of how silly government regulation has become in Ireland," he said.

"While the local newspapers can name and shame when reporting court proceedings, the council cannot publish the same details on an adjoining page or even on its website.

"Ireland has changed from a 'can do' country to become a 'can't do' land."

According to the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System, 'slight' and 'moderately' littered areas in Ireland made up nearly 90% of the country in 2009.