Additional litter wardens ‘a waste’
The request was made by Councillor Noel O’Connor, who said he wanted more litter wardens employed in the north Cork region during the summer months.
Several councillors claimed that illegal dumping was getting out of hand in the area and spoiling the rural landscape.
“We have a very serious problem. There were 134 litter fines handed out in the region last year, of which 50 related to auctioneers’ signs. If you take them out, that leaves us with just over 80 fines, which is little more than one a week. We must do better than that,” the Fine Gael councillor said.
Assistant county manager, Tim Lucey said that the council had a limited budget, and if it spent more on additional wardens it would be to the detriment of other services.
Mr Lucey added the council received 200 complaints about littering last year, but managed just four successful prosecutions.
“It’s extremely difficult to get evidence. The issue isn’t really about the number of litter wardens we employ, it’s about the scurrilous way some people dump their waste,” Mr Lucey said.
Cllr Liam O’Doherty (FG) said illegal dumping was becoming a bigger issue than ever, while his party colleague, Cllr Aileen Pyne, said that without the tremendous work of voluntary organisations such as tidy town groups the situation would be even worse.
Cllr Dan Joe Fitzgerald (FF) agreed, pointing out that locals carrying out a recent clean-up on the approaches to Ballyclough villages had picked up 200 bags of rubbish.
Cllr O’Connor repeated his plea, claiming if flash flooding occurred, the council would find emergency funding.
“We should be able to do that with litter. People will get tired of reporting illegal dumping if we don’t do something,” he said.
But the assistant county manager replied: “You could pour millions into anti-litter tactics, but it’s a mindset of some people which has to be changed.”
