Author urges united bid to bring litter louts to book

A best-selling author has urged communities to unite on April Fools’ Day to bring litter louts to book.

And Alice Taylor, who wrote To School Through the Fields, one of the biggest selling books in Irish publishing history, is leading by example.

The Innishannon-based writer is spearheading a major dawn raid on the littered roads in and around her village — the gateway to West Cork — on Sunday, April 1.

She said she hopes other villages will follow their example and adopt a stretch of road to clean.

“In this recession, we have two financial beacons of light — tourism and agriculture. Both depend on our clean, green image,” Ms Taylor said.

“Unfortunately, as you drive through our beautiful countryside, the appearance of our roadsides do nothing to portray that image. They are strewn with litter.

“Our reaction is ‘why don’t they clean it up?’ But no public body could clean up litter at the rate we are flinging out the windows of vehicles.”

An army of volunteers in Innishannon and Bandon is now lined up for a coordinated blitz of a four kilometre stretch of the N71.

They will gather on opposite sides of Innishannon at 6am to clean the roadsides, working towards each other.

The county council is providing bags and will dispose of the collected litter.

A riverside breakfast barbecue will be fired up afterwards at Dundannion Castle corner.

“Litter invites more litter,” Ms Taylor said. “Some of this ignorant behaviour is due to total lack of awareness. Communities coming together to do a major clean up will make a big statement.”