Bord Failte, in its recent preliminary report on the tourism industry in 1999, again identified the litter problem as tarnishing Ireland's reputation.

How many more such findings are needed before the Government realises the enormous damage being done by a failure to vigorously enforce the anti-litter laws, and to explain to the public their responsibilities under those laws?

Earlier this year we saw the kind of bombardment of the public which must be undertaken to bring the anti-litter message home to people.

That was the propaganda blitz preceding the flotation of Telecom Eireann. Radio and television adverts and jingles, along with a national billboard campaign and saturation newspaper advertising.

A mini-prospectus was sent to everyone on the voters' register. And this brash, in-your-face campaign worked, with 540,000 people investing in the company.

That is the kind of campaign that is needed as a wake-up call to people to resolve the litter scandal. In reality, most people do not know their responsibilities under the 1997 Litter Pollution Act, while at the same time the Act is being so poorly enforced that neither do they have to care.

How many people realise that householders and business people are legally responsible for keeping the roadway or street abutting their premises litter-free, including basements of buildings?

Fast-food outlets are responsible for keeping the pavements free of litter for 100 metres in all directions.

Organisers of sporting events, concerts etc, are responsible for litter control inside and outside the grounds, as well as before, during and after the fixture. Placing flyers on cars is illegal.

Bearing in mind these provisions, a walk along any city street, or some stretches of the countryside, show these anti-litter laws being flouted. Clearly fast-food places are major offenders, but so too are schools, and what about the state of CIE's stations and rail tracks?

Imagine the impact that rigorous enforcement of these provisions would have. The situation would be transformed. So why is it not being done? The answer to this is even more puzzling, bearing in mind the particular responsibility of the Minister for the Environment. This is because nobody articulated the problem more eloquently than Noel Dempsey - before he became minister.

For instance, in December 1996, when the Anti-Pollution Bill (as it was then) was being debated in the Dail, he declared that Bill to be "a wish-list that contains no provision for the enforcement of existing litter laws, let alone enforcing the further provisions the Minister [Mr Brendan Howlin] now proposes. The Bill may as well have been addressed to Santa Claus at the North Pole as to Dail Eireann."

Mr Dempsey went on: "In failing to place a single imperative on anybody, least of all himself, the Minister is side-stepping the litter issue. Unfortunately most people, including our tourists, have no choice except to wade through the litter on our streets."

He also stated that "enforcement is crucial" and must be "the core of litter policy".

He got all the obvious targets right. "Takeaways are one of the most obvious sources of litter in Ireland. No serious effort is being made to have them pay for the considerable economic costs their haphazard business practices impose on the community at large."

Mr Dempsey did not leave it at that. In the run-up to the June 1997 general election, he published a truly outstanding policy document on the issue.

It is worth citing some of it: "The amount of litter strewn along our city streets, highways, hedgerows and, indeed, in the most isolated regions of our country is a national scandal. The green image of Ireland is the engine that drives our exports of food and primary agricultural products . . . how long, however, can we maintain this perception when visitors are faced with the litter that pervades our cities and countryside . . .?"

There was much, much more and - most pertinently of all, bearing in mind Mr Dempsey's current responsibilities and the way the scandal persists un-addressed - a declaration that "unless some action is taken to ensure consistent enforcement, any new legislation will be ineffective". Despite all this, the Minister recently established yet another study group to look at ways of tackling the problem.

My organisation, Irish Business Against Litter, is weary of seeking Government action. That is why we took the unusual step of mounting billboard campaigns in Dublin and Cork aimed at putting pressure on and embarrassing the Minister into action.

Latterly, we have stepped up this campaign with a more provocative poster in Cork, which we intend to extend to Dublin and other cities in the new year.

The poster in Cork has angered the corporation's environment committee, which wants the organisation to remove the posters. The posters will stay up and the campaign will continue until there is clear evidence that Mr Dempsey and the local authorities give real effect to the fine sentiments of his opposition days.

Some will say that we Irish are irredeemable when it comes to litter, but the same thing was said about drinking and driving, and also about illegal car-parking in Dublin. In both cases we have seen how vigorous and sustained enforcement of the law can transform public behaviour.

Remember, too, the Bord Failte concern about visitors is real. Earlier this year a German travel guide, Der Reise Know-How, which sells 40,000 copies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, stated that "the Irish are less interested in the environment than any other nation in the EU, and the Irish people behave with appropriate ignorance".

Nor does it stop there. One senior manager tells me that a significant number of people attending a jobs recruitment fair in Dublin aimed at luring highly-paid IT personnel from abroad to work here "cited the litter on our streets and countryside as a factor" in dissuading them from coming here.

As we head into a new millennium, there has been much attention and debate on devising suitable monuments to commemorate this milestone in Ireland. What more enduring project could this Government and Mr Dempsey undertake than to commit themselves to creating a litter-free millennium Ireland through vigorous and sustained enforcement of the law?

Dr Tom Cavanagh is chairman of Irish Business Against Litter. The organisation was established in 1996 and represents some of the leading business organisations in Ireland.